Chemistry 441: Quantum Chemistry
Fall 2007
Instructor
Dr. Mutasem Sinnokrot
Office: Chemistry, 35
Email: m.sinnokrot@ju.edu.jo
Office hours: Sun., Tues., Thurs. 11-12, Wednesday 1-2, or by appointment.
Course Materials
Textbook: Physical Chemistry by Laidler, Meiser, and Sanctuary. Published by
Houghton Mifflin in 2003. ISBN: 0-618-12341-5.
Other recommended textbooks for further reading:
Atkins, Peter W - Molecular Quantum Mechanics.
Atkins, Peter W - Physical Chemistry.
Levine, Ira N - Quantum Chemistry.
Course Content (not in order)
This course is an introduction to quantum mechanics and its application to chemistry. We
will deal with the concepts and formalism of quantum mechanics. Several systems (free
particle, 1-D, 2-D and 3-D boxes, harmonic oscillator and rigid rotor) will be discussed to
illustrate the formulation and solution of basic quantum mechanics problems. The
application of quantum mechanics to chemistry will be demonstrated by discussion of
aspects of electronic, vibrational and rotational spectroscopy of atoms and diatomic
molecules, angular momentum, spin and chemical bonding in simple molecules.
Learning Objectives:
At the conclusion of the course students should be able to:
1.
Set up simple quantum mechanical problems as a differential equation with
appropriate boundary conditions and discuss the properties of the solutions.
2.
Understand how to think about quantum systems.
3.
Relate spectroscopic results to the underlying quantum mechanics
4.
Understand chemical bonding in terms of quantum mechanics.
Background
Probability and complex numbers will be covered in this course. Students should be able
to differentiate and integrate common functions. The appendix in the text covers the
mathematics background that you will need. Students should be able to verify that a
given function is a solution of a differential equation.
Expectations:
Assignments: Your success in this course will depend on your ability to reason about
quantum mechanical approaches. This requires practice and it is unlikely that you will do
well if you do not do all the assigned problems. There will be questions on concepts that
require a clear written answer. Show your thinking when solving problems. Problem
solutions that consist only of the final result will receive no credit.
Plagiarism: It is accepted that it is useful to discuss strategy aspects of the problem
assignments with other students. This does not include providing answers to other
students. You must write up the assignments by yourself. Any evidence of copying will
result in an assignment component mark of zero.
Evaluation
Chemistry 441 includes:
1. The scheduled lectures; three 50-minute lectures per week.
2.
Problem assignments worth 10% in total.
3.
Two one-hour midterm examinations in class time, each worth 20%.
i) Midterm 1 - November 8, 2007, 10:00 a.m., 50 minutes;
ii) Midterm 2 - December 9, 2007, 10:00 a.m., 50 minutes.
4.
A two-hour written final examination scheduled by the Registrar. The exam will
cover all the material in the course and is worth 50%.
5.
Several short-answer/multiple-choice quizzes worth bonus marks.
The final mark will be calculated from a formula combining the quizzes, assignments,
midterm and final exam in the above percentages.
Letter Grade
The letter grade is derived from the course mark and will be determined based on the
performance of the student in the above exams and assignments.