Space-related
activities remain a fertile environment for classroom
applications of chemistry through both traditional lecture styles
and through collaborative learning projects. With the resurgence of
lunar exploration and the expansion of the commercial space sector,
serious scholarship, planning, and resources have been focused on
extracting and using lunar materials to sustain activity in space.
In this work, several interdisciplinary general chemistry topics and
assessment activities are explored through the lens of lunar resource
formation, identification, extraction, purification, and employment.
Four applications of chemistry are presented: the formation of lunar
water via reduction of ores by solar wind, identifying likely locations
of lunar water via spectroscopy, extracting water from the lunar regolith
for use as fuel, and the extraction, purification, and use of materials
from the lunar regolith. A variety of traditional general chemistry
topics are explored through these applications, to include light,
energy, unit conversions, equilibrium, phase diagrams, oxidation–reduction,
and semiconductors.
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