Chemistry 114A
Quantum Chemistry

Fall 2002

Administrative Information

Class meets: MWF 10:00-10:55 in Camino 28
Class Text: Physical Chemistry, 3rd ed. R. J. Silbey and R. A. Alberty

Instructor: Dr. Jeremy Kua
Office: Camino Modular Offices Room 111
Phone: x7970
E-mail: jkua@sandiego.edu
Office hours: M,F 1100-1200; W 1430-1600; TTh 0900-1000
Class web site:  Chemistry 114A

Course goals: To understand the application of quantum mechanics to chemistry. The course will cover fundamentals of quantum mechanics, its application to atoms and molecules, chemical bonding, and a brief introduction to spectroscopy.

Course requirements:
1. There will be four in-class exams and one Final Exam. There will be problem sets every non-exam week composed of a mixture of assigned questions both from the text and from me.

2. A good grasp of calculus is important for understanding the material and completing the problem sets and exams. It is your responsibility to refamiliarize yourself with your calculus text if you need a refresher.

3. Collaboration is allowed on problem sets but each student must write up their own work. I am not as interested in whether you got the right answer but how you arrived at your answer. Intermediate steps must be shown.

4. There will be NO collaboration on any exam.

5. Grade breakdown is as follows:
                Problem Sets                             16%
                4 Exams @ 14% each                56%
                Final Exam                                28%

6. Tentative Grading Scale (subject to change by the instructor at any time)
                A        85-100%
                B        70-84%
                C        55-69%
                D        40-54%
                F         0-39%

7. Late homework will receive no credit (although I will go through your answers with comments). There are no make-up exams. If you have a very good reason for missing an exam you have to let me know beforehand.

8. In general, homework will be handed out on Friday in class and due the following week in class (at 10:00am). Exceptions will be when Friday is a holiday at which point there will be a shift to either the class before or the class after.

9. Students are most welcome to come in during office hours. If I'm in my office and not swamped with work outside of my designated office hours, I will be happy to answer questions and discuss coursework. I check my e-mail reasonably often during working hours so you can contact me that way too. (Don't expect replies on weekends and evenings.)

10. All students are expected to adhere strictly to the Academic Integrity policy. Violations will be dealt with through the Dean of College of Arts and Sciences, in accordance with the University of San Diego policy on academic integrity.



Homework Log

Homework 1: 9.2, 9.3, 9.6, 9.7, 9.12, 9.13
is due Friday, 13 Sept in class at 9:30am.

Homework 2: Mac word document (link removed)
is due Friday, 20 Sept in class at 10:00am.

Exam 1 equation guide in Mac word document format Chem 114 Equations

Homework 3: 9.19, 9.20, 9.23, 9.24, 9.34, 9.35
is due Monday, 07 Oct in class at 10:00am.

Homework 4: Mac word document (link removed)
is due Friday, 11 Oct in class at 10:00am.

Exam 2 equation guide in Mac word document format Chem 114 Equations (Updated)

Homework 5: 10.15, 10.26, 10.27, 10.29, 10.35, 10.45
is due Monday, 28 Oct in class at 10:00am.

Homework 6: Mac word document (link removed)
is due Friday, 01 Nov in class at 10:00am.

Homework 7: Mac word document (link removed)
is due Friday, 22 Nov in class at 10:00am.

Homework 8: Mac word document (link removed)
is due Wednesday, 11 Dec in class at 10:00am.



Syllabus
(subject to change by the instructor at any time)

Approximate associated sections of the text are in parenthesis.
Blank lines delimit separate weeks.

04 Sep    Introduction
                 Failure of Classical Mechanics (9.1,9.16)
06 Sep    deBroglie hypothesis (9.1)
                 Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle (9.2)

09 Sep    The Schrodinger equation (9.3,9.14)
11 Sep    Operators, Functions, Variables (9.4)
13 Sep    Stationary States, Expectation Values (9.5)
        [note: shorter class due to Mass]

16 Sep    Solutions to the Schrodinger Equation (9.5,9.14)
                 Postulates of Quantum Mechanics (9.13)
18 Sep    Particle in a one-D box (9.6)
20 Sep    Particle in a two-D box (9.7)
                 Degeneracy

23 Sep    Quantum Tunneling (9.15)
25 Sep    Exam #1
27 Sep    Harmonic Oscillator (9.9,9.10)

30 Sep    Angular Momentum (9.12)
                 Rigid Rotor (9.11)
02 Oct    Hydrogen atom (10.1,10.2,10.15)
                     Schrodinger equation, Polar Coordinates, Separation of Variables
04 Oct    Hydrogen atom (10.1,10.2,10.3)
                     Quantum Numbers, Energy Levels, Radial functions

07 Oct    Hydrogen atom (10.3,10.4,10.5)
                     Angular and Spin functions, Probability Density, Distribution functions
09 Oct    Helium atom (10.7,10.8)
                 Pauli Principle, Determinants
11 Oct    Improvements to He atom (10.7,10.8)
                 Variational Principle, Shielding and Effective Nuclear Charge

14 Oct    Polyelectronic atoms (10.9,10.10,10.11,10.12)
                      Li atom
                      Aufbau Principle
                      Hartree-Fock Wavefunctions
16 Oct    Exam #2
18 Oct    Fall Holiday -- no class

21 Oct    Born-Oppenheimer Approximation (11.1)
                 Hydrogen Molecule Ion (11.2,11.3)
23 Oct    LCAO Method and Introduction to Molecular Orbital Theory (11.3)
                 Hydrogen molecule (11.4)
25 Oct    Homonuclear diatomics (11.5)
                 Correlation diagrams

28 Oct    Other polyatomics (11.6)
                        Hybridization
                        Molecular shapes: First row hydrides
30 Oct    Huckel MO Theory for pi-systems (11.7)
01 Nov   Computational Chemistry Jargon

04 Nov   Applications of Computational Chemistry: Catalysis
06 Nov   Exam #3
08 Nov   Valence Bond Theory (11.6)

11 Nov   Nature of the Chemical Bond
13 Nov   Polar Covalent and Ionic Bonds (11.8,11.9)
15 Nov   Intermolecular forces (11.10)
                 Hydrogen Bonds (11.11)
                 Metallic Bonds (11.11)

18 Nov   Introduction to Spectroscopy (13.1)
                 Selection Rules (13.2)
20 Nov   Rotational Motion (13.3,13.4,13.5)
22 Nov   Vibrational Motion (13.6,13.8)

25 Nov   Coupling of Rotation and Vibration (13.7)
                 Level spacings and the Boltzmann Distribution
27 Nov   Exam #4 (or lecture before -- class decides)
29 Nov   Thanksgiving Break -- no class

02 Dec    Selection Rules (13.7) and Rovibrational Spectra
04 Dec    Infrared and Raman Spectroscopy (13.8,13.9)
06 Dec    Electronic Spectroscopy (14.1,14.2,14.3)

09 Dec    Electronic Spectroscopy (14.4,14.8)
11 Dec    Other types of spectroscopy: XPS, NMR (14.10)
13 Dec    Spectroscopy and Computation



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Last modified: 25 Aug 2002