Chemistry 392: Quantum Chemistry, Spring 2008

Professor Warren F. Beck
office: 3 Chemistry
contact: see directory listing
web: research, Chemistry department brochure page (pdf)

Course Description

CEM 392 is an introduction to the methods and postulates of quantum mechanics. The course will cover the standard set of model systems, including the particle-in-a-box and the harmonic oscillator, and then it will discuss the hydrogen atom and the chemical bond. Spectroscopy will be employed throughout as a probe of the energy-level structure in each system.

Prerequisites

CEM 391 and (MTH 234 or LBS 220 or MTH 254H). The course is not open to students with credit in CEM 384. The student will require the background from a year of general chemistry, calculus through differential equations, and general physics.

Texts

Ira N. Levine, Physical Chemistry, 5th edition, Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2002.

This textbook and the student guide are available as a bundle at MSU and area student bookstores. It will be used to provide the outline for the course and some of the homework problems.

Schedule

Lectures MWF, 10:20–11:10 AM, room 136 Chemistry. See the schedule of courses for the rooms and meeting times for the discussion sections.

Syllabus and Course Outline

The course syllabus is provided as an Adobe Acrobat pdf file. You can read this file with the Adobe Acrobat Reader or a similar program.

  1. Experimental evidence for quantum mechanics.
  2. Classical mechanics. Equations of motion in the Newtonian and Hamiltonian forms. Classical harmonic oscillator
    problem.
  3. Quantum mechanics. Postulates of quantum mechanics and the Schrödinger equation, Dirac bracket notation.
  4. Particle-in-a-box problem.
  5. Harmonic oscillator problem and vibrational spectroscopy.
  6. Rigid rotator problem and rotational spectroscopy.
  7. Hydrogen atom and orbital wavefunctions.
  8. Multielectron atoms.
  9. Molecular electronic structure.
  10. Polyatomic molecules.
  11. Symmetry and group theory.