Covers kinetic molecular theory and quantum mechanics. Major topics include continuous probability distributions, the origins of quantum theory, solutions to Schrodinger's equation for model systems and the hydrogen atom, approximation methods including perturbation and variational principle, and iterative solutions based off the Hartree-Fock method. Main application areas are molecular spectroscopy, tunneling, computational chemistry, and potential energy surfaces. The language of calculus and differential equations is used throughout.
Semester Offered