Requirements and Expectations

CBMS602 is a 3-credit-point, one semester unit, comprising

• Lectures: three x one-hour lectures per week
• Tutorial: one x one-hour tutorial per week
• Practical: one four-hour laboratory session, every second week (six practicals in total).
• Self-Study: there is an expectation that you will also engage in study of the material outside of the formal face-to-face contact.

In order to complete this unit you must:

• Participate in all laboratory sessions and submit laboratory reports by the designated dates.
• Submit answers to the on-line tutorial exercises.
• Attempt the mid-session test (50 minutes), held during a standard lecture time.
• Sit the final examination of (3 hours), held during the examination period.

An unsatisfactory performance in the final examination or the practicals may result in a fail grade being given, regardless of your overall aggregate score.

Students unable to attend a laboratory class due to illness or misadventure (defined in the ‘Student Information’ section of the University Undergraduate Studies Handbook) should provide the University with documentation, including a medical certificate in appropriate, as soon as possible after any such absence. In special circumstances, it may be possible to attend an alternative laboratory class, but this must be arranged in advance with Dr Ian Jamie and it is not guaranteed,

If you miss more than one laboratory session through illness or misadventure, you should request withdrawal without penalty. If an absence is anticipated (perhaps for a mandatory religious event, etc), the student must inform teaching staff in advance that this will be the case, with sufficient notice to allow alternative arrangements to be made. It is your responsibility to undertake this. Notification after the event of an anticipatable absence will not be looked upon favourably. If you miss any laboratory session without adequate evidence of illness or misadventure, you may be awarded an FA grade and be given a failing SNG.

In addition to the formal requirements for the unit, there are other actions you should take to achieve your best in this unit.

The expectations are that you will:

• attend all lectures;
• attend all tutorial classes and attempt the assigned tutorial exercises;
• demonstrate competence in all laboratory preparation exercises before each class;
• demonstrate competence in the post-laboratory exercises submitted by the due dates (note, completion of these are optional, but are worthwhile doing and you get bonus marks).
• engage in private study in addition to class contact

Unit Web Site

The CBMS102 unit web site will be used as a repository of lecture, tutorial and prac notes, as a means of communication and as a source of data and information. You must become familiar with it. Note that this is is CBMS102, not CBMS602.

The web page for this unit can be found at ilearn.mq.edu.au.  Login and follow the prompts to CBMS102. You will be asked for a "username" and "password". Your "username" is your Macquarie Student ID Number, which is an 8-digit number found on your Campus Card.  The "password" is your myMQ Student Portal password. This will be the original MQID password (2 random characters followed by your date of birth in ddmmyy format) that was sent to you on enrolment, unless you have already changed your password in the myMQ Student Portal.  If you have any problems with iLearn log a ticket with OneHelp at onehelp.mq.edu.au.  More information about OneHelp can be found at http://informatics.mq.edu.au/help/.

Technology Used

You will also be required to use the MasteringChemistry online system for assessment tasks and practice problems. Details on its use will be supplied in class. You may purchase an access licence to the Mastering Chemistry website along with the textbook, or it may be purchased separately. A certain number of licenses may be obtained from Dr Ian Jamie for those students who have an equity case (i.e., financial or other constraints).

You are expected to access the ilearn site on a frequent basis and download PDF files. If you do not have your own computer you may wish to access the web resources on campus using the PC computers in the Library or in the C5C computer laboratories.

To view notes on all the topics and past exams on the unit web site, you will require Adobe Acrobat Reader Version 9 or later (or equivalent software) to be installed on your computer. Acrobat Reader can be downloaded from the Adobe at get.adobe.com/reader/ (but be careful of the extra software that it will install by default - read carefully). If you are using the computers in the library, then Acrobat has already been installed.

Please note that information will also be sent by email to your student email account so please look at your email account on a frequent basis. Check your spam folder. It is not uncommon for mail from iLearn to be initially recognised as spam. All unit-related correspondence must be conducted using your official university account. E-mails from your private accounts will be responded to via your MQ email account.

CBMS602 Lecture and Practical Schedule

Note: This schedule is approximate and may be altered as required. Locations may change, please check the official university timetable.

Lectures:

Attend all:

   Tuesday, E7B T5  11 am–12 noon

    Thursday, E7B T5  11 am–12 noon

    Friday, E7B T5,  9–10 am

Week 1: Introductions, Revision of basic concepts, Stoichiometry and Reactions

Week 2: Stoichiometry and Reactions (cont.), Gas Laws and Kinetic Theory of Matter

Week 3: Kinetic Theory of Matter (cont.), Chemical Kinetics

Week 4: Chemical Kinetics (cont.), Principles of Chemical Equilibria

Week 5: Principles of Chemical Equilibria (cont.), Acid-Base Equilibria

Week 6: Acid-Base Equilibria (cont.), Buffers, Precipitation and Complex Ion Equilibria

Week 7: Electrochemistry

Week 8: Mid-Semester Test, Modern Atomic Theory

Week 9: Modern Atomic Theory (cont.), Chemical Bonding and Molecular Geometry

Week 10: Chemical Bonding and Molecular Geometry (cont.), Transition Metal Chemistry

Week 11: Transition Metal Chemistry (cont.), Thermochemistry and Chemical Energy

Week 12: Thermochemistry and Chemical Energy (cont)

Week 13: Liquids and Solids, Environmental (Applied) Chemistry, Revision

Practicals:

Choose one of:

    Tuesday, E7B 320 2-6 pm

    Wednesday, E7B 320 2-6 pm

Week 1: No Labs

Week 2: Even Week Group - Experiment 1: Stoichiometry and Volumetric Analysis

Week 3: Odd Week Group - Experiment 1: Stoichiometry and Volumetric Analysis

Week 4: Even Week Group - Experiment 2: Chemical Kinetics

Week 5: Odd Week Group - Experiment 2: Chemical Kinetics

Week 6: Even Week Group - Experiment 3: Dissociation Constants of Weak Acids and Bases

Week 7: Odd Week Group - Experiment 3: Dissociation Constants of Weak Acids and Bases

Week 8: Even Week Group - Experiment 4: Solubility and Complex Equilibria

Week 9: Odd Week Group - Experiment 4: Solubility and Complex Equilibria

Week 10: Even Week Group - Experiment 5: Reduction-Oxidation Reactions

Week 11: Odd Week Group - Experiment 5: Reduction-Oxidation Reactions

Week 12: Even Week Group - Experiment 6: Coordination Compounds: Synthesis, Thermodynamics, Equilibria and Quantum Mechanics

Week 13: Odd Week Group - Experiment 6: Coordination Compounds: Synthesis, Thermodynamics, Equilibria and Quantum Mechanics

Tutorials:

Tutorials commence in Week 1.

Choose one of:

    Wednesday, W6B 383 9-10 am

    Wednesday, E5A 150 1-2 pm

    Friday, E6A 108 1-2 pm

    Friday, C5C 236 2-3 pm

There are no significant changes from the previous offering

Lectures will be presented formally, although quizzes and general questions may be asked in class, demonstrations provided, and examples of problems worked through, to strengthen and increase understanding of the concepts. Most lecture material will be available on the unit web site, while other material will be provided in the lecture class. You are expected to download the lecture material and bring it into the lecture class so you can spend most of the time listening to the lecturer rather than transcribing. Do not assume these notes or recordings/video recordings are a substitute to attending the lectures. Students historically fall behind and perform poorly if they do not attend the lecture classes and often further material is provided in the lecture class, so a student that does not attend the class will not be as well prepared as they would otherwise be. Learning is an active process, and as such, you must engage with the material. This means downloading and reading the lecture notes and relevant sections of the textbook (and beyond) before and after the lecture is given is strongly recommended.

Tutorials will be run to assist your understanding of the course material. Suggested questions to be covered for each tutorial class are provided in a separate document. Attempting the questions before the tutorial class to identify what you need assistance on is highly recommended. The tutor will often ask for students to assist in answering the questions throughout the class. Attendance records will be kept, and while tutorials do not contribute formally to your mark, poor tutorial attendance may be viewed unfavourably and could affect the final mark if a student is on a grade boundary.

Laboratory classes are designed to develop basic laboratory skills, general safety practices and critical and analytical thought. Pre-laboratory questions are designed to make sure you are ready for the laboratory work and have grasped the relevant theory and safety practices necessary. In-lab and post-lab work are designed to allow you to appropriately record your experimental observations and your calculations in a detailed and accurate manner and assess your understanding of the theory behind the experiments conducted and to use this understanding to solve related problems. The laboratory experiments are scaffolded such that the expectations of pre-lab, in-lab and post-lab reports increase throughout the course as understanding of the concepts and skill in how to record the data and interpret results develop. Note that for CBMS602 the practicals form the main differentiation between CBMS602 and CBMS102. For the laboratory report you are required to submit a full report, written yourself, and submitted as an electronic document through the CBMS102 iLearn website.

If you do your work in a timely and conscientious way and follow the study methods suggested below, you will do well in the unit.

Your success will depend primarily on your being able to LOGICALLY analyse the wording on the chemical problems in tutorial exercises, online assignments and examinations, and relate the problems to basic concepts and mathematical expressions. For most students, the best way to learn the material is to work on the tutorial exercises independently. Good analytical skills and problem solving techniques must be acquired in order to pass the examinations that consist solely of problems – rote memorisation of the book will not allow you to achieve a good mark. Memorise by learning, but do not learn by memorising. Chemistry is a cumulative subject where one principle builds upon another and you will need to stay on top of the materials at all times.

If you experience difficulties with understanding the unit material, then seek help early! The lecturers are always happy to assist you as long as show that you have made an attempt to overcomes the hurdles yourself.

Some suggested guides in studying CBMS602 are:

• Read up the relevant sections in the textbook before the lecture on a particular topic. Check for important learning objectives and key concepts at the end of the chapter.
• Re-read the relevant sections after the lecture, focussing on points emphasised in the lecture and in those sections, if any, that you did not understand completely.
• Do the assigned tutorial problems. Check your answer to each problem to make sure you have done the problem correctly. Do not spend excessive amounts of time struggling with a problem you cannot do. Seek help with the problem. Once you have found out the way to solve a particular problem, put the solution away and make sure you can do the problem on your own. It is extremely important that you make certain you can do the problem yourself - just understanding it is not enough. The most common trap that students fall into is thinking that just because they understand the solution to the problem, they will be able to do a similar problem in an examination.
• If, after doing all the tutorial problems, you feel in need of more drill, do some of the unassigned problems. You will find some drills, discussions, animations and reviews of the concepts and the mathematics about the topics on the textbook publishers website.

Do not hesitate to seek help from Dr Ian Jamie or Dr Louise Brown with any material that you cannot master on your own. Studying with one or more friends often proves beneficial to everyone involved if the work is shared and everyone participates actively in the study group.

Several studies on student progress have demonstrated that excessive hours of paid work and/or other activities, especially regular commitments, can have a detrimental effect on successful completion of studies. The (very approximate) time commitment for an undergraduate unit of study such as CBMS602 is 150 hours over 15 weeks (this includes the two weeks of "recess"), hence about 10 hours per week. This is therefore about 40 hours per week over the typical four units of study. This includes contact and non-contact hours. Some students may find that they need to devote more time than this. Care should be taken with additional regular commitments to ensure that you are not overloading yourself. Options might include cutting back on outside commitments during the session or reducing the number of units you undertake.

Text Books and Notes

The prescribed texts are:

• Brown, LeMay, Bursten, Murphy, Woodward, Langford, Sagatys and George, Chemistry: The Central Science, 3rd Ed, Pearson Australia, 2013, ISBN: 9781442554603

and

• Blackman and Gahan, Aylward and Findlay's SI Chemical Data, 7th Ed, John Wiley and Sons, 2013, ISBN: 9780730302469

You are expected to have a copy of each book.

The SI Chemical Data book contains important information and should be brought to every laboratory session.

You must download the Laboratory Notes for CBMS602 from the CBMS102 website through iLearn (ilearn.mq.edu.au). There will be links to CBMS602-specifi material within the CBMS102 iLearn site.

It is not possible to complete the practical component of the unit without these notes. For students unable to print out their own copies for good reason may make arrangements with the unit convenor, Dr Jamie.

Lecture and practical notes can be obtained from the CBMS102 website, through iLearn (ilearn.mq.edu.au).

Some basic high school level mathematical skills would also be useful in CBMS602. If you need to refresh basic mathematical skills, you may like to obtain a copy of

• Monk, Maths for Chemistry, A Chemist’s toolkit of calculations, Oxford University Press, 2006

which is available in the CO-OP Bookshop. Limited copies of this book are available in the Library

Calculators

It is important that you have a scientific calculator. Hand-held calculators will be used in laboratory sessions, for assignments, and in the final examination.  Note that calculators with text retrieving, memory and graphing capabilities are not allowed in the final examination.

The University provides general-use computers, but it would be advantageous to have your own computer and internet access.

Personal Protective Equipment

A lab coat is required for the practicals, as are closed-in shoes. Students will be barred from undertaking a practical if they do not adhere to this requirement, with significant consequences for their grades.

You may wish to purchase your own safety glasses, but this will be supplied by the Department if you don't have your own.

Special Consideration Requests including non-attendance and extensions

The University is committed to equity and fairness in all aspects of its learning and teaching.  In stating this commitment, the University recognises that there may be circumstances where a student is prevented by unavoidable disruption from performing in accordance with their ability.  The University has a policy on special consideration request that may be found at http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/disruption_studies/policy.html.  The University recognises that at times an event or set of circumstances may occur that:

• could not have reasonably been anticipated, avoided or guarded against by the student AND
• was beyond the student’s control AND
• caused substantial disruption to the student’s capacity for effective study and/or completion of required work AND
• substantially interfered with the otherwise satisfactory fulfilment of a unit or program requirements AND
• was of at least three (3) consecutive days duration within a study period and/or prevented completion of a formal examination.

This policy is instituted to support students who experience serious and unavoidable disruption such that they do not reach their usual demonstrated performance level.  To request special consideration go on-line to ask.mq.edu.au as soon as possible to allow due consideration.

This Policy applies only to serious and unavoidable disruptions that arise after a study period has commenced. Such disruptions commonly result from personal, social or domestic nature and may include illness (either physical or psychological), accident, injury, societal demands (such as jury service), bereavement, family breakdown or unexpected changes in employment situations. Students with a pre-existing disability/health condition or prolonged adverse circumstances may be eligible for ongoing assistance and support. Such support is governed by other policies and may be sought and coordinated through Campus Wellbeing and Support Services.

Non-Attendance:  Students who have a valid reason for the non-attendance (via special consideration formally approved by the unit coordinator), if one laboratory class is missed, that class will not be included in the calculation of the aggregate mark. If more than one laboratory class is missed you must speak to Dr Jamie to discuss alternative options. If the final exam is missed due to a valid reason a Supplementary Examination can be granted. If a Supplementary Examination is granted, the examination will be scheduled after the conclusion of the official examination period. The offer of a supplementary examination is at the discretion of the unit coordinator and you should not assume that it will be provided. Supplementary Examinations are not make-up exams, i.e., a poor result in the final examination is not reason to request a supplementary examination. Please note that if you are sick at or in the days just prior to the scheduled exam time you must see a medical practitioner and contact the unit coordinator as soon as possible to discuss the possibility of a supplementary exam. It is normally unwise to sit an exam if illness or other circumstances will significantly affect your performance. Please also note that if you have sat the final exam you CAN NOT sit a supplementary exam even if you were ill during the final exam.

If an absence is anticipated (perhaps for a mandatory religious or University associated sporting event) you must inform the unit convenor in advance that this will be the case and discuss alternative arrangements. It is your responsibility to undertake this. Notification after the event of an anticipated absence will not be looked upon favourably. For any unjustified absences students will receive a zero mark for the assessment task.

Extensions:  Students unable to complete a form of assessment (laboratory reports, quizzes) on time due to illness or other extenuating circumstances must request special consideration at ask.mq.edu.au and provide formal documentary evidence as soon as possible and contact Dr Ian Jamie to discuss possible extensions. Extensions will be granted based on merit and will be more favourably considered if consultation with the unit coordinator on the need for an extension occurred BEFORE the due date. If there is no acceptable reason for a late submission, marks will be deducted at up to 5% for every day late.