Lecture Notes and Practice Exams for Physical Chemistry I

Lecture Notes are posted approximately twice a month (when we complete a large block of material):

  • Part 1 – Two-slit experiments, Math Review, The Classical Wave Equation, Boundary Conditions
  • Part 2 – Probability & Statistics, DeBroglie’s Wavelength, Postulates of QM, Eigenvalue Equations, Particle-in-a-Box, Measurement, Expectation Values, Hilbert Spaces
  • Part 3 – The Harmonic Oscillator, classically and quantum mechanically, Creation & Annihilation Operators, Vibrational Spectroscopy, Selection Rules, IR & Raman, Normal Modes
  • Part 4 – Angular Momentum, Rigid Rotator, Spherical Harmonics, Rotational Spectroscopy, Selection Rules
  • Part 5 – The Hydrogen Atom, Probability Density, Atomic Orbitals, Hybridization
  • Part 6 – Approximate methods, The Variational Theorem, Secular Determinants, Spin, The Pauli Exclusion Principle
  • Part 7 – Variational treatment of the Helium Atom,  Molecules, The Born-Oppenheimer Approximation, Molecular Orbitals, Hückel Theory
  • Part 8 – Electronic (UV & Visible) spectroscopy, Fluorescence, Tunneling, Molecular Symmetry, Absorption, Emission and Lasers

Practice Exams: