ECTS credits ECTS credits: 6
ECTS Hours Rules/Memories Hours of tutorials: 3 Expository Class: 27 Interactive Classroom: 21 Total: 51
Use languages Spanish, Galician
Type: Ordinary Degree Subject RD 1393/2007 - 822/2021
Departments: Chemical Physics
Areas: Chemical Physics
Center Faculty of Biology
Call: Second Semester
Teaching: With teaching
Enrolment: Enrollable | 1st year (Yes)
Students who have taken this course are expected to be able to:
• Determine the magnitudes used to describe the state of a thermodynamic system.
• Know and apply the laws of thermodynamics to biological systems and to chemical reactions.
• Understand and know how to describe the properties of multicomponent systems.
• Solve questions and problems involving chemical and phase equilibrium, ideal and non-ideal solutions.
• Define chemical kinetics and know the factors on which it depends.
• Know and apply the methods to measure reaction rates.
• Describe reaction mechanisms and catalysis.
LECTURES (face-to-face sessions):
• 1. The First Law of Thermodynamics (~5 h)
• 2. The Second and Third Laws of Thermodynamics (~4 h)
• 3. Phase Equilibria and Solutions (~7 h)
• 4. The Principles of Chemical Equilibrium (~5 h)
• 5. Chemical Kinetics (~6 h)
LABORATORY SESSIONS (face-to-face sessions):
1. Thermodynamics of phase equilibria: Solid-liquid phase diagram of a binary mixture (4 h).
2. Chemical equilibrium: Spectrophotometric determination of an equilibrium constant (4 h).
SEMINARS (face-to-face sessions):
Some of the exercises/questions proposed for each of the topics of the course will be solved and assessment activities will also be carried out (13 h).
TUTORIALS (face-to-face sessions):
Students will work on integrated exercises with the lecturer’s help and questions or difficulties related to the course contents will be discussed (3 h).
Core reading list:
• Atkins, P.; de Paula, J. (2010), Physical Chemistry for the Life Sciences, 2nd ed., Oxford, Oxford University Press.
• Chang, R. (2005), Physical Chemistry for the Biosciences, Sausalito, California, University Science Books.
• Petrucci, R. H.; Herring, F. G.; Madura, J. D.; Bissonnette, C. (2017), Química General, 11ª ed., Madrid, Pearson Educación. The ebook is available online through the BUSC catalogue.
Extended reading list:
• Atkins, P.; de Paula, J. (2008), Química Física, 8ª ed., Buenos Aires, Editorial Médica Panamericana. The ebook is available online through the BUSC catalogue.
• Levine, I. N. (2014), Principios de Fisicoquímica, 6ª ed., México, McGraw Hill.
• Levine, I. N. (2004), Fisicoquímica, Volumen 1, 5ª ed., Madrid, McGraw Hill. The ebook is available online through the BUSC catalogue.
Knowledge/contents: Con01, Con03
Abilities/Skills: H/D01, H/D03, H/D04, H/D10, H/D11
Competences: Comp01, Comp02, Comp03, Comp05
• Lectures: Lecture
• Interactive classes (seminars): Problem solving
• Laboratory sessions: Laboratory work
• Tutorials in small group: Tutorials
All teaching activities will be held in a traditional in-person format. Attendance to seminars, tutorials and laboratory sessions is compulsory.
The student’s assessment will have two components, summative assessment (40 %) and a final exam (60%).
The summative assessment will be based on:
• Problem/question solving during the seminars (75 %).
• Active participation in tutorials (5 %)
• Laboratory sessions (20 %). The assessment will take into account the performance of the student in the lab together with a written exam covering the contents of the practical work.
In some of the seminars, assessment activities will be carried out. The marks obtained in these activities will be part of the student’s summative assessment. Non-attendance to any of these classes will lead to a zero mark in all the assessment activities carried out during that class.
Absence to the scheduled tutorials will lead to a zero mark in the corresponding component of the summative assessment.
Students must obtain a pass in the lab classes to achieve an overall pass grade in this course. To get a pass mark for the lab, a student must attend all the scheduled lab sessions and correctly carry out the proposed experimental work. A student who misses a lab-session should contact the lecturer to re-schedule the practical. Non justified absences will result in a fail grade for the lab experiments.
In the second opportunity, the student will take a final exam and its mark will be added to that obtained in the continuous assessment activities carried out during the teaching period.
In cases of academic misconduct in work submitted for assessment, the guidelines established in the "Regulations for the assessment of student academic achievement and review of grades" will be followed.
A “non-attendance” grade will be issued to a student if he/she has not done any of the assessed activities planned for the course.
Exceptions for students retaking the course
Students who retake the course, but successfully completed the laboratory the year before, will be allowed to keep the lab grade for a maximum of two years. Therefore, they will not have to repeat the lab work. However, the marks obtained in all other assessable activities will not be retained.
All other students repeating the course will have to follow the same attendance and assessment rules as students taking the course for the first time.
The following skills will be assessed during the semester:
Assessment problems/questions (seminars): Con01, Con03, H/D01, H/D10, H/D11, Comp03, Comp05
Laboratory sessions: Con03, H/D01, H/D03, H/D04, H/D10, Comp01, Comp02
Tutorials: Con03, H/D01, H/D03, H/D11, Comp03, Comp05
Final exam: Con01, Con03, H/D01, H/D10, H/D11, Comp03
In-class and laboratory work time
• Lectures (27 hours)
• Interactive Classes (Seminars) (13 hours)
• Interactive Laboratory Classes (8 hours)
• Tutorials (3 hours)
• Exam (3 hours)
• Total in-class and laboratory work time: 54 hours
Out-of-class work time
• Study of the course contents (54 hours)
• Problem solving (39 hours)
• Preparation for the lab sessions and data analysis (3 hours)
• Total out-of-class work time: 96 hours
• It is important to keep up to date in studying the course material.
• After reading a chapter, it is useful to write a summary of the important points, identifying the basic equations that should be remembered and making sure that you understand them and know when they apply.
• Working problems is essential to learning the course contents. It may be useful to follow the following steps: (1) List all the relevant information that is given. (2) List the quantities to be calculated. (3) Identify the equations that should be used to solve the problem and apply them correctly.
• The full instructions for an experiment, which are described in the lab manual, should be carefully read before coming to the laboratory.
A Virtual Classroom on the USC Virtual Campus will be available for this course.
The lecturer will attend to the students’ queries in person during the lecturer’s office hours posted at the beginning of the academic year.
Ana Maria Rios Rodriguez
- Department
- Chemical Physics
- Area
- Chemical Physics
- Phone
- 881814210
- anamaria.rios [at] usc.es
- Category
- Professor: University Lecturer
| Tuesday | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 11:00-12:00 | Grupo /CLE_01 | Spanish | Classroom 04: James Watson and Francis Crick |
| Wednesday | |||
| 09:00-10:00 | Grupo /CLE_01 | Spanish | Classroom 02. Gregor Mendel |
| Thursday | |||
| 09:00-10:00 | Grupo /CLE_01 | Spanish | Classroom 08. Louis Pasteur |
| 06.02.2025 16:00-20:00 | Grupo /CLE_01 | Classroom 04: James Watson and Francis Crick |
| 07.11.2025 16:00-20:00 | Grupo /CLE_01 | Classroom 03. Carl Linnaeus |