Ch 361: Physical Chemistry I
Texts for Fall 2020:
(1) Quantum Chemistry (2nd edition only) by D.A. McQuarrie. See http://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Chemistry-Donald-A-McQuarrie/dp/1891389505 and http://www.uscibooks.com/mcqqc2.htm .
(2) Quantum States of Atoms and Molecules (online, free) by Hanson et al. See https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Physical_and_Theoretical_Chemistry_Textbook_Maps/Book%3A_Quantum_States_of_Atoms_and_Molecules_(Zielinksi_et_al)
Required for all chemical engineering majors, this course in quantum mechanics and molecular spectroscopy is taken during the junior year after having completed a semester of "introductory" physical chemistry covering thermodynamics (Ch 160), a semester of chemical engineering thermodynamics, a year of organic chemistry with one semester of lab, three courses in physics (including modern physics), two years of calculus and ODEs, and linear algebra. Students are simultaneously taking a laboratory course in instrumental analysis, a second course in chemical engineering thermodynamics, and a course in probability and statistics. Consequently, it is taught at a level similar to first-year graduate courses in quantum mechanics at other institutions.
A sequence of applied "quantum chemistry" projects gives students a firm grounding in the methods, language, logistics, and algorithmic approaches involved in the use of quantum mechanics to predict molecular structures, spectra, and properties and analyze the results critically. A brief introduction to statistical mechanics is also included.
The course is sometimes chosen as an elective by students in other engineering majors (espeically EE and BSE).