McMaster University
Department of Chemistry

Chemistry 3PA3: 2009

Paul W. Ayers, Instructor


 

Office Phone Number:   (905) 525-9140 x 24505

E-mail:                             ayers@mcmaster.ca

Office Hours:                   9:30-11:00 (TR) (ABB-266; x24505); 9:30-11:00 (F) (ABB-212A; x24162)

Lecture:                           PC-155; 8:30-9:20 (TRF)

Tutorials:                         ABB-164; 6:00-?? (TR) 

                                   


Current notices:            

 

Please E-mail me if you find any bad links on this web page.

Final Exam; Saturday, December 19th @ 12:30 pm.

Pre-Exam Tutorials are in ABB-164 at the following times

1.  Tuesday Dec. 8; 6 pm.

2.  Thursday Dec. 10; 6 pm.

3.  Tuesday Dec. 15; 6pm.

4.  Thursday Dec. 17; 6 pm.

5.  Friday, Dec. 18, 11 am.

Extra problems are due no later than Tutorial on Thursday, Dec. 17.  I will take up to 25 additional problems after Thursday and before 10 am on Monday, December 21.

Grades on the second mid-term and all other work are processed.  You can find information about the exam distributions and the marks (assuming that drop grades are used for the final exam) here.

Some papers were turned in without names.  You should check your marks with me to make sure they are correct.

A partial list of key topics that are covered on the exam can be found here.  90% of the questions on the exam are closely related to one or more items on this list.

I have posted some references for the Rigid Rotor and Rotational Spectroscopy.

In tutorial tonight some people asked me about the breakdown of the final exam.  It is 31 short-answer; about 1/3 of those are closely related to questions on previous mid-terms or worksheets.  There is a slight bias towards the material on the first mid-term and the material that has not been tested, especially molecular rotation.  The second portion of the exam is ŇPick THREE of SIX problems.Ó  One problem is straight from the notes; one is new.  One is related to a problem from one of your mid-terms; one is a problem from an exam from a previous year.  One is an extension of something we did in class; one is based on something you did in the 3rd year chemistry lab.  There is one bonus, worth 5 points.

                                            


Course Documentation

            Syllabus        

Course Description: An introduction to quantum chemistry and its applications in spectroscopy and structure and unusual phenomena at the nanoscale.

 

Web Site & Course Materials from Previous Course (more advanced)

 

WWW-based books:

Simons An Introduction to Theoretical Chemistry

Simons Theoretical Chemistry: A Self-Guided Introduction for College Students

Simons and Nichols Quantum Mechanics in Chemistry

John Lowe Quantum Chemistry

Robert Evarestov Quantum Chemistry of Solids: The LCAO First Principles Treatment of Crystals

Lucjan Piela Ideas of Quantum Chemistry

Course Materials

Topic

Worksheets

 

Homework

Exams

References

From Newton and Maxwell to Schršdinger

Set 1

Set 1

 

References

PaulŐs Notes (incomplete)

RogelioŐs Lecture Notes

The Particle in a Box & the Postulates of Quantum Mechanics

Set 2

Set 2

 

References

PaulŐs Notes (incomplete)

RogelioŐs Lecture Notes

Fundamentals of Spectroscopy

Set 3

Sets 3 & 4

Mid-Term #1

References

PaulŐs Notes from a previous course

RogelioŐs pre-fracture Lecture Notes

The Born-Oppenheimer Approximation

 

 

 

PaulŐs Notes from a previous course

The One-Electron Atom;

Approximation Techniques:  Perturbation Theory & the Variational Principle

 

 

 

PaulŐs Notes from a previous course

Many-Electron Atoms;

Slater Determinants and Hartree-Fock

 

 

 

PaulŐs Notes from a previous course

Diatomic Molecules;

Polyatomic Molecules

 

 

Mid-Term #2

PaulŐs Notes from a previous course

Mean-Field Methods

 

 

 

 

Electron Correlation

 

 

 

 

The Harmonic Oscillator & Vibrational Spectroscopy

 

 

 

RogelioŐs Notes

The Rigid Rotor & Rotational Spectroscopy

 

 

 

References

Things You Can—and CanŐt—Observe

 

 

 

 

 


Paul's home page

E-mail Paul