CHEM13083 - Physical Chemistry

General Information

Unit Synopsis

In this unit you will develop advanced understanding of the core areas of physical chemistry, based around the themes of systems, states and processes. You will study mixtures and phases, spectroscopy, molecular motion and ionic conductance. This unit will extend your theoretical knowledge to complex mixtures encountered in environmental studies and vibrational spectroscopy, which is rapidly emerging as a core analytical tool for screening and quantification of species in a myriad of disciplines.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 3
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 2
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Prerequisite:

CHEM19085 OR CHEM12077 OR CHEM12079 OR CHEM12080

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).

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Residential School Compulsory Residential School
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Unit Availabilities from Term 3 - 2024

Term 1 - 2025 Profile
Mixed Mode

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).

Assessment Overview

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.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Written Assessment 20%
2. Report 50%
3. Online Test 30%

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

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 1 - 2024 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 100.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 16.67% response rate.

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.

Source: From students at res school.
Feedback
Students found the text difficult to use well and struggled with its style and mathematical detail.
Recommendation
Look into other texts that have an alternative way of presenting the material. As a unit with a significant mathematical component, consideration can be given to alternative ways to assist students.
Action Taken
Upon looking at alternative textbooks, the current, prescribed resource remains one of the best for explanations. This approach has been put on hold pending the future changes to the Unit.
Source: From students at res school and student evaluation
Feedback
Students found it difficult to make full links between the lab component and the theory components of the unit.
Recommendation
The res school experiments are under review to further enhance this important aspect of the unit. Restructure the lab manual to remove some of the extraneous theory that already exists in the lecture material.
Action Taken
In 2024, the experiments have been reviewed and streamlined for simpler explanations. All experiments were also re-examined for improvements where possible and these steps were well-informed from the pilot residential school in 2022. The 2024 cohort experiments worked better as a result.
Source: Student emails
Feedback
The textbook has errors
Recommendation
Review the current textbook and consider replacing with a new text from a different publisher.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Reflective practice
Feedback
Content is heavily based on traditional chemistry and could benefit from modern concepts like materials science
Recommendation
Review content to ensure that more materials chemistry-based concepts are included.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Evaluate the properties of mixtures
  2. Predict the types of molecular motion in fluids and mixtures
  3. Design and conduct practical assessments of molar conductance and conductivity
  4. Assess the kinetics and determine the mass transfer process of various chemical reactions.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Written Assessment • •
2 - Report • • • •
3 - Online Test • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
2 - Problem Solving • • •
3 - Critical Thinking • • • •
4 - Information Literacy • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 - Written Assessment • • •
2 - Report • • • •
3 - Online Test • •