On successful completion of the course students will:

• have gained knowledge about the fundamental concepts of chemical thermodynamics, with emphasis to the chemical equilibrium
• have gained knowledge about the different types of reactions that are important in natural water systems (acid-base, complexation, precipitation-dissolution, reduction-oxidation, and solid-solution interface reactions)
• have gained knowledge about the concepts of ionic strength of solutions, and of the concentrations, activity, activity coefficients and normality of dissolved species in aquatic solutions
• be able to develop the mathematical equations of mass balance, charge balance, proton balance and equilibrium constants for systems at equilibrium
• be able to produce algebraic solutions of the composition of aquatic solutions at equilibrium
• have gained an understanding of the processes that govern the behavior of inorganic species in aquatic systems
• be able to interpret graphical presentation of water composition data (pC – pH, pe – pH graphs, etc)
• have gained an understanding of the dissolved carbon system, of alkalinity and of pH determination in natural water systems