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). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School |
Compulsory Residential School View Unit Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
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.
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%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 1 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 33.33% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 37.5% 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: Student emails
The textbook has errors
Review the current textbook and consider replacing with a new text from a different publisher.
The textbook was reviewed.
Source: Reflective practice
Content is heavily based on traditional chemistry and could benefit from modern concepts like materials science
Review content to ensure that more materials chemistry-based concepts are included.
Content updates were not made in 2025 and should be considered for future.
Source: SUTE
No prior unit prepared students for the high level of maths, and some examinable topics were not covered before assessment deadlines.
Ensure students are prepared for the unit’s mathematical requirements and that weekly content, resources, and assessments are sequenced logically.
In Progress
Source: SUTE
Lecture videos and PowerPoints were outdated, and lab manual instructions were unclear or incorrect.
Update and improve teaching materials (videos, PowerPoints, lab manuals) for accuracy, currency, clarity, and audio/visual quality.
In Progress
Source: SUTE
Assessment 2 feedback was not returned before Assessment 3 was due.
Align assessment timing with content delivery and return feedback before subsequent assessments.
In Progress
Source: SUTE and staff reflections
The AI-critique assignment lacked a clear rubric and relied on outdated instructions.
Provide clear, detailed instructions and marking rubrics; review the design of less well-received tasks.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Evaluate the properties of mixtures
- Predict the types of molecular motion in fluids and mixtures
- Design and conduct practical assessments of molar conductance and conductivity
- Assess the kinetics and determine the mass transfer process of various chemical reactions.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment | • | • | ||
| 2 - Report | • | • | • | • |
| 3 - Online Test | • | • | • | |
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • | • | |
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • | • |
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | • | ||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | ||||||||
| 2 - Report | • | • | • | • | |||||||
| 3 - Online Test | • | • | |||||||||