Overview
This unit examines • air pollution: ozone depletion, sulfur oxides, photochemical smog and greenhouse effects; • water pollution; • inorganic and organic pollutants, surfactants and detergents; • hazardous wastes: classification, treatment, disposal; • pollution monitoring: sampling procedures, analytical methods and modelling techniques. You will be presented with the ecological and health effects of chemical pollution and these will be discussed. Renewable energy and energy utilisation is investigated. If you are a Distance education student, you will be required to attend a residential school for this unit.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Pre-requisites: CHEM11044 Chemical Reactions OR permission from Head of Course
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 1 - 2025
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of 'pass' in order to pass the unit. If any 'pass/fail' tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully ('pass' grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the 'assessment task' section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback - Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Reflective practice
Students often lack sufficient numeracy skills to understand some of the content or apply theory in a quantified manner.
A conversation about equipping students with mathematical skills should be undertaken at Course level to address the deficiency.
Feedback from Reflective practice
Recent environmental concerns are not covered in the Unit.
More recent environmental concerns (e.g. emerging contaminants, microplastics, PFAS/PFOS/PFOA) should also be included in the content.
Feedback from Unit feedback
The textbook has been unavailable at times.
A conversation with the Bookshop has begun to identify and address any issues regarding the procurement of the textbook for future offerings.
- Understand the chemical principles relating to the chemistry of the different spheres of the environment: atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and biosphere
- Use laboratory skills to make reliable analytical measurements to assess the quality of water, air, soil and food sources
- Be familiar with the important environment regulating authority and environmental guidelines
- Use research skills to obtain information relating to environmental chemical concepts, environmental issues and current approaches to solve these.
None
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 30% | ||||
| 2 - Practical and Written Assessment - 50% | ||||
| 3 - Online Test - 20% | ||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Communication | ||||
| 2 - Problem Solving | ||||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | ||||
| 4 - Information Literacy | ||||
| 5 - Team Work | ||||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | ||||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | ||||
| 8 - Ethical practice | ||||
| 9 - Social Innovation | ||||
| 10 - First Nations Knowledges | ||||
| 11 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | ||||
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 30% | |||||||||||
| 2 - Practical and Written Assessment - 50% | |||||||||||
| 3 - Online Test - 20% | |||||||||||
Textbooks
Environmental Chemistry
- Edition: 5 (2012)
- Authors: Colin Baird and Michael Cann
- ISBN: 9781464162879
- Binding: Hardcover
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
- MS Office
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: Vancouver
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
j.johnson2@cqu.edu.au
Week 1
Begin Date: 10 Mar 2025Module/Topic
It Must be In The Water: Acid-base Chemistry of Natural Waters
Chapter
3
10
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 2
Begin Date: 17 Mar 2025Module/Topic
Water: Redox Chemistry of Natural Waters
Chapter
10
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 3
Begin Date: 24 Mar 2025Module/Topic
Oxygen - Supply, Demand & Role in Water
Chapter
11
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 4
Begin Date: 31 Mar 2025Module/Topic
Oxygen Demand and Water Pollution
Chapter
10
11
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 5
Begin Date: 07 Apr 2025Module/Topic
Air: Stratospheric Chemistry; Ozone Hole
Chapter
1
2
17
Events and Submissions/Topic
Vacation Week
Begin Date: 14 Apr 2025Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 6
Begin Date: 21 Apr 2025Module/Topic
No teaching - res school
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 7
Begin Date: 28 Apr 2025Module/Topic
Air: Oxygen Chemistry and the Stratosphere
Chapter
1 - 2
17
Events and Submissions/Topic
Residential School
Week 8
Begin Date: 05 May 2025Module/Topic
Air: The Mechanism of Greenhouse Gas Action
Chapter
3 - 4
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 9
Begin Date: 12 May 2025Module/Topic
Air: Let There be Clean Air
Chapter
3 - 4
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 10
Begin Date: 19 May 2025Module/Topic
Energy & Climate Change: Greenhouse Effect, Fossil-fuel Energy, Carbon Dioxide Emissions, Global Warming, Ecological and Human Health: Toxic Organic Compounds
Chapter
5 - 8
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 11
Begin Date: 26 May 2025Module/Topic
Energy & Climate Change: Renewable Energy, Alternative Fuels and the Hydrogen Economy
Chapter
5 - 8
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 12
Begin Date: 02 Jun 2025Module/Topic
Pollution: Toxic Heavy Metals and Metalloids
Chapter
12
Events and Submissions/Topic
Review/Exam Week
Begin Date: 09 Jun 2025Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Exam Week
Begin Date: 16 Jun 2025Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Written Assessment
Assessment 1 comprises of a mix of numerical and descriptive problems, as well as requiring you to undertake brief research on an environmental issue in Australia.
The Assessment Task requires some research (i.e. you need to consult references outside of the textbook, including peer reviewed scientific literature such as journals). It is important to start on the Assessment Task as early as possible. Remember to always cite your sources throughout your report.
Further detail will be provided on Moodle.
Please refer to the Generative AI Permission document available on the Moodle site for guidelines on the acceptable and unacceptable use of generative AI in this unit.
Week 5 Friday (11 Apr 2025) 11:59 pm AEST
To be submitted via Moodle.
Week 7 Friday (2 May 2025)
Returned with feedback via Moodle.
Problem-solving
You will be marked on completeness and correctness of answers.
Writing Task
- Clear flow and suitability for a general audience
- Reliability/credibility of information/data
- Sound reasoning based on scientific evidence/principles in letter with good integration of information
- Correctly cited references
- Word count met
- Be familiar with the important environment regulating authority and environmental guidelines
- Use research skills to obtain information relating to environmental chemical concepts, environmental issues and current approaches to solve these.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
2 Practical and Written Assessment
Assessment 2 relates to the compulsory Residential School. The Residential School includes a field trip. You will work in pairs preparing samples and when conducting your experimental work. For this assessment, you will write up an individual scientific report of the experiments and activities undertaken during the Residential School.
While work at residential school will be conducted in pairs, your report must be your own work and is not to be completed as a team.
Please refer to the Generative AI Permission document available on the Moodle site for guidelines on the acceptable and unacceptable use of generative AI in this unit.
Week 9 Friday (16 May 2025) 11:59 pm AEST
To be submitted via Moodle.
Week 11 Friday (30 May 2025)
Returned with feedback via Moodle.
Report Structure
Title, Aim and Introduction to practical exercise should explain the importance of the study taken and the justification of the scientific methods used. The scientific literature (e.g., include relevant chemical equations and background information) must be cited: 25 marks
Outline of procedure (exact and with sufficient detail and clarity to be reproduced in another laboratory, and in your own words rather than reproduced from the Laboratory Manual): 15 marks
Data organisation (tabulated, graphed for clarity): 15 marks
Data verification (accuracy and precision estimation): 15 marks
Comparison of data with other similar work, calculations etc.: 15 marks
Overall presentation of report, citations and referencing: 15 marks
- Understand the chemical principles relating to the chemistry of the different spheres of the environment: atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and biosphere
- Use laboratory skills to make reliable analytical measurements to assess the quality of water, air, soil and food sources
- Be familiar with the important environment regulating authority and environmental guidelines
- Use research skills to obtain information relating to environmental chemical concepts, environmental issues and current approaches to solve these.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Team Work
- Information Technology Competence
- Ethical practice
3 Online Test
The Online Test will be an assortment of problem-solving and extended-answer questions. The mark allocations per question will be provided on the Assessment with each question.
The Online Test will be available for a 24 hour period. You must open the test within the 24 hour period and attempt it. Once opened, you will have 3 hours to answer the questions. You will only be able to access the test once within the 24 hour period. Please ensure that you have given yourself 3 hours to attempt all the questions and upload your answers and that you have Internet connectivity for the duration of the test.
Please refer to the Generative AI Permission document available on the Moodle site for guidelines on the acceptable and unacceptable use of generative AI in this unit.
Review/Exam Week Monday (9 June 2025) 11:00 am AEST
The online test will open on Sunday 9 June at 11:00 am AEST, and will close 24 hours later. Once you open the quiz, you will have 3 hours to complete.
Exam Week Friday (20 June 2025)
Each question will have the allocated marks stated. You will be marked on completeness and correctness of answers.
- Understand the chemical principles relating to the chemistry of the different spheres of the environment: atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and biosphere
- Communication
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
