Catalog

Physical Chemistry

Chemistry MIT CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 36 lectures

This course is an introduction to quantum mechanics for _use_ by chemists. Topics include particles and waves, wave mechanics, semi-classical quantum mechanics, matrix mechanics, perturbation theory, molecular orbital theory, molecular structure, molecular spectroscopy, and photochemistry. Emphasis is on creating and building confidence in the use of intuitive pictures.

Syllabus

  1. 1 Lecture 1: Quantum Mechanics—Historical Background, Photoelectric Effect, Compton Scattering
  2. 2 Lecture 2: Wave Nature of the Electron and the Internal Structure of an Atom
  3. 3 Lecture 3: Two-Slit Experiment, Quantum Weirdness
  4. 4 Lecture 4: Classical Wave Equation and Separation of Variables
  5. 5 Lecture 5: Quantum Mechanics: Free Particle and Particle in 1D box
  6. 6 Lecture 6: 3-D Box and QM Separation of Variables
  7. 7 Lecture 7: Classical Mechanical Harmonic Oscillator
  8. 8 Lecture 8: Quantum Mechanical Harmonic Oscillator
  9. 9 Lecture 9: The Harmonic Oscillator: Creation and Annihilation Operators
  10. 10 Lecture 10: The Time-Dependent Schrödinger Equation
  11. 11 Lecture 11: Wavepacket Dynamics for Harmonic Oscillator and PIB
  12. 12 Lecture 12: Catch Up and Review, Postulates
  13. 13 Lecture 13: From Hij Integrals to H Matrices I
  14. 14 Lecture 14: From Hij Integrals to H Matrices II
  15. 15 Lecture 15: Non-Degenerate Perturbation Theory I
  16. 16 Lecture 16: Non-Degenerate Perturbation Theory II: HO using a,a†
  17. 17 Lecture 17: Rigid Rotor I. Orbital Angular Momentum
  18. 18 Lecture 18: Rigid Rotor II. Derivation by Commutation Rules
  19. 19 Lecture 19: Spectroscopy: Probing Molecules with Light
  20. 20 Lecture 20: Hydrogen Atom I
  21. 21 Lecture 21: Hydrogen Atom II. Rydberg States
  22. 22 Lecture 22: Helium Atom
  23. 23 Lecture 23: Many-Electron Atoms
  24. 24 Lecture 24: Molecular Orbital Theory I. Variational Principle and Matrix Mechanics
  25. 25 Lecture 25: Molecular Orbital Theory II. H2+, A2, AB Diatomics
  26. 26 Lecture 26: Qualitative MO Theory: Hückel
  27. 27 Lecture 27: Non-Degenerate Perturbation Theory III
  28. 28 Lecture 28: Modern Electronic Structure Theory: Basis Sets
  29. 29 Lecture 29: Modern Electronic Structure Theory: Electronic Correlation
  30. 30 Lecture 30: Time-Dependent Perturbation Theory I. H is Time-Independent, Zewail Wavepacket
  31. 31 Lecture 31: Time-Dependent Perturbation Theory II. H is Time-Dependent: Two-Level Problem
  32. 32 Lecture 32: Intermolecular Interactions by Non-Degenerate Perturbation Theory
  33. 33 Lecture 33: Electronic Spectroscopy: Franck-Condon
  34. 34 Lecture 34: Electronic Spectroscopy and Photochemistry
  35. 35 Lecture 35: δ-Functions, Eigenfunctions of X, Discrete Variable Representation
  36. 36 Lecture 36: Time Dependence of Two-Level Systems: Density Matrix, Rotating Wave Approximation

Course materials