CHEM 33200
Introduction to Quantum Mechanics
Fall 2020

  1. The goal of this course is to provide an introduction to quantum mechanics and its basic applications to chemical problems.
    PRE-REQUISITES
    CHEM 33000 (or ChE 22900 and ChE 33000); CHEM 25000 or MATH 213; PHYS 20800. The CHEM 33000 pre-requisite is waived for this semester.
  2. CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity
  3. TOPICS
    Classical Theory of Blackbody Radiation
    The Bolltzmann Distribution
    Planck's Theory of Blackbody Radiation
    Photoelectric Effect, Specific Heats of Solids annd the Bohr Atom
    Wave Mechanics and the Schrodinger Equation
  4. Quantum Mechanical Operators
    Applications of the Schrodinger Equation - Barrier Problems
    The Harmonic Oscillator
  5. First take home exam
    The Hydrogen Atom
    The Variation Method
    The Perturbation Method
    Many Electron Atoms
  6. Second take home exam
    The Chemical Bond
    Polyatomic Molecules
    Hybridization
    Hückel Theory

  7. LECTURE NOTES
    Lecture 1
    Lecture 2
    Lecture 3
    Lecture 4
  8. Lecture 5
    Lecture 6

  9. Lecture Recordings

    ADDITIONAL READING
    Tegmark & Wheeler (Scientific American, February 2001)
    Zeilinger (Nature, December 2000)
    Planck (1900, English Translation)
    Millikan (Phys. Rev., 1916)
    Steiner et al. (J. Res. Natl. Inst. Stand. Technol., 2005)
    Haddad et al. (Metrologiaa, July 2017)

CLASSES

Monday, Wednesday 9:00-10:45 AM.
Classes will be held online synchronously.

GRADING

Take-home Midterm - 35%
Take-home Final - 35%
Paper - 30%

TEXTS

The following textbooks are suggested but not required:
(1) Physical Chemistry 7th Edition
Atkins and De Paula

(2) Physical Chemistry: A Molecular Approach
McQuarrie and Simon

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Zoom links for a given class will be emailed the day before the class. All emails will be sent only to the official CCNY email address. The Zoom link will utilize a waiting room and so the name for the Zoom attendee should match the name on official CCNY records.
Absolutely no exceptions.