ECTS credits ECTS credits: 6
ECTS Hours Rules/Memories Student's work ECTS: 99 Hours of tutorials: 3 Expository Class: 24 Interactive Classroom: 24 Total: 150
Use languages Spanish, Galician
Type: Ordinary Degree Subject RD 1393/2007 - 822/2021
Departments: Physical Chemistry
Areas: Physical Chemistry
Center Faculty of Biology
Call: Second Semester
Teaching: Sin docencia (Extinguida)
Enrolment: No Matriculable | 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:
• 1. The First Law of Thermodynamics (~5 h)
Basic concepts. Internal energy. Heat. Heat capacity. Work. The first law. Enthalpy. Heats of reaction and calorimetry. Enthalpy changes accompanying physical and chemical processes.
• 2. The Second and Third Laws of Thermodynamics (~4 h)
Spontaneous processes. Entropy. The second law. The third law: absolute entropies. The Gibbs energy.
• 3. Phase Equilibria and Solutions (~7 h)
Phase transitions. Phase diagrams of one-component systems. Ideal solutions: Raoult’s law. Ideal-dilute solutions: Henry’s law. Non ideal solutions. Colligative properties. Phase equilibria in binary mixtures.
• 4. The Principles of Chemical Equilibrium (~5 h)
The reaction Gibbs energy. The reaction quotient. Equilibrium state. The expression of the equilibrium constant. The response of equilibria to the conditions. Acid-base equilibria.
• 5. Chemical Kinetics (~6 h)
Reaction rate. Rate law. The determination of the rate law. Theoretical models of chemical kinetics. The temperature dependence of reaction rates. Reaction mechanisms. General principles of catalysis. Enzyme catalysis.
LABORATORY SESSIONS:
1. Thermodynamics of phase equilibria: Solid-liquid phase diagram of a binary mixture (4 h).
2. Chemical equilibrium: Spectrophotometric determination of the equilibrium constant for the formation of a protein-ligand complex (4 h).
SEMINARS:
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.
TUTORIALS:
Students will work on integrated exercises with the lecturer’s help and questions or difficulties related to the course contents will be discussed.
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.
• Chemistry LibreTexts. University of California Davis. Map: General Chemistry (Petrucci et al.)
https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/General_Chemistry/Map%3A_Genera…
Extended reading list:
• Atkins, P.; de Paula, J. (2008), Química Física, 8ª ed., Buenos Aires, Editorial Médica Panamericana.
• Levine, I. N. (2013), Principios de Fisicoquímica, 6ª ed., México, McGraw Hill.
• Chemistry LibreTexts. University of California Davis. Map: Physical Chemistry (Atkins et al.)
https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Physical_and_Theoretical_Chemis…
General and basic-subject skills:
•CB1 – Students must demonstrate that they have acquired the knowledge required in a specific field of study, which is initially developed on the basis of their general secondary education, and that they have both drawn on information in textbooks and on the very latest information resources to attain the level of competence required of them.
•CB2 – Students should be able to apply their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way, and must demonstrate their skills in sustaining arguments and solving problems within their field of study.
•CB3 – Students must have the ability to gather and interpret relevant data (usually within their field of study) to make judgments that include reflections on relevant issues of social, scientific or ethical nature.
•CB4 – Students should be able to communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to both a specialized and a non-specialized audience.
•CB5 – Students should have developed those learning skills that are needed to undertake further studies with a high level of autonomy.
•CG1 – To know the concepts, methods and most important results characteristic of the different branches of biotechnology.
•CG2 – To apply the theoretical/practical knowledge acquired to raise problems and look for their solutions in both academic and professional contexts.
•CG3 – To be able to get and interpret information and relevant results and to reach conclusions in issues related to biotechnology.
•CG4 – To be able to transmit information, by means of oral presentations and written reports, and to discuss ideas, problems and solutions related to biotechnology, in front of a general or specialized audience.
•CG5 – To study and learn in a self-sufficient way, organizing time and resources, new knowledge and techniques in biotechnology and to acquire teamwork abilities.
Transversal skills:
•CT1 – Global thinking and addressing problems form different perspectives.
•CT3 – Capacity for organizing and planning their work.
•CT6 – Critical reasoning.
Specific skills:
•CE1 – To be able to carry out calculations, analysis of data, and interpretation of experimental results in the field of biotechnology.
•CE4 – To have a global view of cell functioning, including its biomolecules, metabolism, gene expression, relation between cell compartments, and the mechanisms for cell signalling and communication.
•CE7 – To have knowledge of material and energy balances and transfer, applied thermodynamics and separation operations, and to apply them to solve engineering problems.
A) Lectures, during which the lecturer covers the different aspects of the course (theory, problems and/or examples).
B) Interactive classes in small groups (seminars), in which problems and exercises are proposed and solved.
C) Laboratory sessions, in which the student, following the protocols set up for this purpose, operates the given lab equipment and solves practical questions.
D) Tutorials in very small group, intended to discuss questions or difficulties related to the course contents, to provide information or guide the student, and to know the progress towards acquiring the different skills.
SCENE 1: Lectures, seminars, tutorials and laboratory sessions will be held in a traditional in-person format. The length of each experiment will be reduced to 50% and the student will analyze the experimental data as a post-lab activity following the instructor’s directions and will submit a lab report.
SCENE 2: Lectures will be online and delivered either synchronously via video conference using Microsoft Teams or asynchronously via the virtual classroom on the USC Virtual Campus. In the latter case, students will have at their disposal a video (slides with audio) for each of the lectures. Seminars and tutorials will be delivered face to face by organizing weekly attendance shifts (half of the students attend in person and the lecture is live-streamed to the other half) or online depending on the preventive measures established in the health protection protocols of the University of Santiago de Compostela. Students will attend face to face lab sessions. The length of each experiment will be reduced to 50% and the student will analyze the experimental data as a post-lab activity following the instructor’s directions and will submit a lab report.
SCENE 3: All teaching activities will be delivered online. Lectures will take place either synchronously via video conference (Microsoft Teams) or asynchronously, providing the student with videos recorded by the lecturer (slides with audio) via the virtual classroom on the USC Virtual Campus. Seminars and tutorials will be delivered via video conference using Microsoft Teams. Lab sessions will be held online and, in substitution for the laboratory work, the student will carry out the analysis of the experimental data provided by the lecturer and will submit a lab report.
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 (70 %).
• Active participation in tutorials (10 %)
• Laboratory sessions (20 %). The performance of the student in the lab and/or the substitute online lab assignment (lab report) will be taken into account, together with a written exam covering the contents of the practical work.
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.
The assessment system will be the same regardless of the scene in which all the teaching activities are carried out, varying only the face-to-face or online nature of the assessment activities.
SCENE 1: All assessment activities will be face to face.
SCENE 2: Summative assessment activities may be face-to-face or online and the final exam will be online, both on the first and second opportunities.
SCENE 3: All assessment activities will be online.
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.
Compulsory activities that will be assessed: Laboratory sessions
Attendance to the laboratory sessions is compulsory. 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 Scenes 2 and 3, the student must submit the lab report before the deadline to get a pass mark for the lab.
Non-compulsory activities that will be assessed: Seminars and tutorials
The student can pass the course without attending the seminars and tutorials.
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.
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:
Seminars: CG1, CG2, CG5, CB1, CB2, CB5, CT1, CT6, CE1, CE4, CE7
Laboratory sessions: CB3, CB4, CG3, CG4, CT1, CT3, CE1, CE7
Tutorials: CG2, CG4, CG5, CB2, CB4, CB5, CT1, CT6, CE1, CE7
Final exam: CG1, CG2, CB1, CB2, CT1, CT6, CE1, CE7
• Lectures (27 hours)
• Interactive Classes (Seminars) (13 hours)
• Interactive Laboratory Classes (8 hours)
• Tutorials (3 hours)
• Exam (3 hours)
• Total in-class work time: 54 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.
In Scenes 2 and 3, lectures will be online, and the student may attend them synchronously or asynchronously. It is essential that the contents of the lectures delivered during each week are studied before attending the scheduled seminar.
In Scene 3, tutorials will be delivered online, and the student should work on the exercises to be discussed during the tutorial beforehand. Given the impossibility of doing experimental work in the lab in this scene, it is advisable to analyze the experimental procedure for each of the experiments in detail using the information provided by the lecturer.
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.
“Contingency Plan”
Adjustments of the Teaching Methodology to Scenes 2 and 3
SCENE 2: Lectures will be online and delivered either synchronously via video conference using Microsoft Teams or asynchronously via the virtual classroom on the USC Virtual Campus. In the latter case, students will have at their disposal a video (slides with audio) for each of the lectures. Seminars and tutorials will be delivered face to face by organizing weekly attendance shifts (half of the students attend in person and the lecture is live-streamed to the other half) or online depending on the preventive measures established in the health protection protocols of the University of Santiago de Compostela. Students will attend face to face lab sessions. The length of each experiment will be reduced to 50% and the student will analyze the experimental data as a post-lab activity following the instructor’s directions and will submit a lab report.
SCENE 3: All teaching activities will be delivered online. Lectures will take place either synchronously via video conference (Microsoft Teams) or asynchronously, providing the student with videos recorded by the lecturer (slides with audio) via the virtual classroom on the USC Virtual Campus. Seminars and tutorials will be delivered via video conference using Microsoft Teams. Lab sessions will be held online and, in substitution for the laboratory work, the student will carry out the analysis of the experimental data provided by the lecturer and will submit a lab report.
Adjustments of the Assessment System to Scenes 2 and 3
The assessment system will be the same regardless of the scene in which all the teaching activities are carried out, varying only the face-to-face or online nature of the assessment activities.
SCENE 1: All assessment activities will be face to face.
SCENE 2: Summative assessment activities may be face-to-face or online and the final exam will be online, both on the first and second opportunities.
SCENE 3: All assessment activities will be online.
Direct communication channels with students in Scenes 2 and 3
In Scenes 2 and 3, Students’ queries will be attended to online (Microsoft Teams) during the lecturer’s office hours.
Ana Maria Rios Rodriguez
- Department
- Physical Chemistry
- Area
- Physical Chemistry
- Phone
- 881814210
- anamaria.rios [at] usc.es
- Category
- Professor: University Lecturer
| Monday | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 11:00-12:00 | Grupo /CLE_01 | Spanish | Main Hall Santiago Ramón y Cajal |
| Tuesday | |||
| 11:00-12:00 | Grupo /CLE_01 | Spanish | Main Hall Santiago Ramón y Cajal |
| 06.04.2021 16:00-20:00 | Grupo /CLE_01 | Classroom 01. Charles Darwin |
| 06.04.2021 16:00-20:00 | Grupo /CLE_01 | Classroom 02. Gregor Mendel |
| 07.21.2021 16:00-20:00 | Grupo /CLE_01 | Classroom 01. Charles Darwin |
| 07.21.2021 16:00-20:00 | Grupo /CLE_01 | Classroom 02. Gregor Mendel |