To pass this unit, you must:

• Achieve a total mark equal to or greater than 50%

Practical Competency:

• Practicals provide essential hands-on experience that develops fundamental Chemistry practical skills and reinforce theoretical knowledge. Experiential learning allows you to apply concepts encountered in lectures and SGTAs in the laboratory environments, enhancing your understanding and problem-solving skills. Additionally, practical classes help develop critical laboratory techniques and safety practices, which are crucial for any aspiring chemist. By participating in these classes, you will gain valuable experience that is integral to your overall education and future professional success.
• If you miss a practical class, you are NOT automatically entitled to a make-up class. Such an opportunity may be offered, if possible, provided sufficient warning is given. However, opportunities for a make-up class are very limited.

Physical Chemistry Problem Set:

• The Physical Chemistry Problem Set will be undertaken during the SGTA in Week 7.

Final Examination:

• The final examination will be three (3) hours in length (unless otherwise notified). The final examination will cover all sections of the unit (lectures, lab practicals, workshops, and assignments) and is designed to address specific understanding of all the concepts presented within the course.

Information on Supplementary Exams:

• If you receive special consideration for the final exam, a supplementary exam will be scheduled in the interval between the regular exam period and the start of the next session. By requesting special consideration for the final exam, you are declaring yourself available for a resit during the supplementary examination period and will not be eligible for a second special consideration approval based on pre-existing commitments. Please ensure that you are familiar with the policy prior to applying.

Your marks will be displayed on iLearn. It is your responsibility to regularly verify that the records displayed at iLearn (Tools->Grades) are correct.

If you have difficulty attending and participating in a hurdle assessment task, please contact the Unit Convenor, in ADVANCE if possible, and immediately after if not, as there may be alternatives available to make-up a missed task. You have a limited time after the event to submit a special consideration request (see SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS web page).

Submission Deadlines:

The assessments must be undertaken at the time indicated in the unit guide. Should these activities be missed due to illness or misadventure, students may apply for Special Consideration.

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, a 5% penalty (of the total possible mark of the task) will be applied for each day a written report or presentation assessment is not submitted, up to the 7th day (including weekends). After the 7th day, a grade of ‘0’ will be awarded even if the assessment is submitted. Submission deadlines are given on the iLearn page.

For any late submission of time-sensitive tasks, such as scheduled tests/exams, performance assessments/presentations, and/or scheduled practical assessments/labs, please apply for Special Consideration.

Communication

During the semester, the CHEM2401 iLearn site will be used to communicate important information to you. In addition, emails will be sent to your student email account. Please check your messages frequently.

We cannot overstate the importance of regularly checking your emails and the CHEM2401 iLearn site.

Please feel free to communicate directly with your unit convenor using the contact details provided on the iLearn. It would be best to post questions about the unit content and administration to the Student Q&A forum on the iLearn site so that everybody can see the question and the answer.

Lectures:

Lectures commence in Week 1.

The material presented in the lectures is important and you should not assume that all examinable material is available in the textbook or in the printed notes. On the other hand, do not assume that all examinable material is to be found in the lecture notes.

SGTA:

SGTAs commence in Week 2.

Question sets, which may form part of the material submitted for assessment, will be distributed by the lecturer during the SGTA classes.

Laboratory Work:

Practical classes commence in Week 2.

You will undertake practicals both at the bench (wet-labs) and in the "write-up room" dry-lab workshops.

A laboratory roster will be issued to indicate which experiments you will be undertaking in which week.

Before commencing an experiment, you are required to complete a laboratory preparation exercise (“prelab”). You will not be allowed to commence the experimental work until the preparation exercise is completed in a satisfactory manner. A delay in starting the experimental work due to poor preparation will have a detrimental effect on your ability to perform the laboratory work. You should attempt the prelab exercises well in advance of each practical class. You are advised to carefully read the notes for each experiment.

Students unable to attend laboratory classes due to illness or misadventure (as defined in the Handbook of Undergraduate Studies) must provide formal documentary evidence to the University as soon as possible after the absence, via the Special Consideration mechanism. For any unjustified absences, a mark of zero will be given.

Some practical work may be undertaken before the corresponding material has been covered in lectures. The notes have been written with this in mind. Some allowance will be made for this in the marking of reports.

Required and Recommended Texts and/or Materials

Recommended Textbook: Atkins & de Paula "Elements of Physical Chemistry" 7th Ed, Oxford University Press is recommended. The larger "Atkins' Physical Chemistry" 12th ed, Oxford University Press, is better but more expensive. The 11th and 10th editions are also acceptable.

Recommended Supplementary Text: Monk "Maths for Chemistry: a Chemist's Toolkit of Calculations" or some equivalent book might be useful.

Alternative Text Books: Raymond Chang "Physical Chemistry for the Chemical and Biological Sciences", 3rd ed, University Science Books (2000) is reasonable, and somewhat more readable than "Elements of Physical Chemistry", but is a bit light in the spectroscopy section. Some students find "Physical Chemistry" by R.A. Alberty and R.J. Silbey provides readable introductions to some topics but is less helpful when it comes to problem-solving. Two older books that can provide an alternative introduction to aspects of molecular spectroscopy are "Fundamentals of Molecular Spectroscopy" by C.N. Banwell and "Introduction to Molecular Spectroscopy" by G. M. Barrow. You can find several textbooks with "Physical Chemistry" in the title in the University library. All cover similar material but often use different notation. You may find that some of these other books explain certain topics more clearly.

Texts entitled Environmental Chemistry or similar tend to be too broad with respect to the chemistry, and there is limited depth of discussions on Physical Chemistry aspects. However, good background information on the broader aspects of Chemistry in the environmental context can be obtained from these texts. Examples of good Environmental Chemistry texts are S.E. Manahan "Environmental Chemistry" (TD193.M36), G.W. VanLoon and S.J. Duffy "Environmental Chemistry: A Global Perspective" (TD193 .V36) and C. Baird and M. Cann "Environmental Chemistry" (TO192 .B35)

There are also many web resources, but material placed on the web is not necessarily checked for accuracy, so be careful when using it.

Technology Used and Required:

Your reports will be submitted electronically (through iLearn), so it is important that you have access to a word processor and the ability to manipulate PDF files. Use will be made of Excel and other data processing and display software. Computers carrying this software are available in the teaching laboratories. While spreadsheets are recommended for most calculations during the Session, it is important that you have a scientific calculator, as this will be used in the final examination. Note that text-retrieval calculators are not allowed in the final examination. 

General use computers are provided by the University, but it would be advantageous to have your own computer and internet access.

Items of interest and links to other on-line material will be placed on the unit iLearn website.

Microsoft Office is available free-of-charge to Macquarie University students. See https://students.mq.edu.au/support/technology/software.

Unit Web Page:

The URL of the CHEM2401 website is: ilearn.mq.edu.au. You will be asked for a username and password. Your username is your student MQID. Your MQID and password have been mailed to you by the University. If you have lost them, go to the student portal: my.mq.edu.au

The following schedule is tentative and may change.

 

CHEM2401 Lecture and SGTA Schedule
Week	Lecture 1	Lecture 2	Tutorial		Pracs	Assessments
1	Introductions; Empirical Kinetics	Empirical Kinetics	-		-
2	Molecular Basis of Kinetics	Molecular Basis of Kinetics	Kinetics		Data Analysis
3	Reaction Mechanisms	Reaction Mechanisms	Kinetics
4	Collision Theory	Collision Theory	Kinetics		Kinetics 1
5	Principles of Spectroscopy	Principles of Spectroscopy	Spectroscopy
6	Rotational Spectroscopy	Rotational Spectroscopy	Spectroscopy		Kinetics 2
	Recess	Recess	Recess		Recess
	Recess	Recess	Recess		Recess
7	Vibrational Spectroscopy - Diatomics	Rotational Fine Structure & Polyatomics	Spectroscopy			Problem Set
8	Rotational Fine Structure & Polyatomics	UV-Visible Spectroscopy	Spectroscopy		Infrared
9	UV-Visible Spectroscopy	NMR Spectroscopy	Spectroscopy
10	Thermodynamics	Thermodynamics	Thermodynamics		UV-Vis
11	Thermodynamics	Thermodynamics	Thermodynamics
12	Transport and Fate	Transport and Fate	Transport and Fate		Thermodynamics
13	Transport and Fate	Revision	Transport and Fate

In alignment with the recently introduced Macquarie University Assessment Guidance, which limits all units to just three assessments, we have revised the assessment structure for this unit. This change ensures compliance with the guidance.

The new structure will include the following three assessments:

1. Problem-Based Task: Analyse and solve authentic problems of appropriate complexity by applying relevant knowledge, theories, and methodologies to develop reasoned solutions
2. Portfolio: A curated collection of evidence demonstrating student achievement, growth, and competency development over time.
3. Examination: A time-constrained assessment conducted under supervised conditions where students respond to questions or tasks that test their knowledge, understanding, and application of subject matter.