Quantum Mechanics for chemists

• Main Author: HAYWARD, DAVID O. David Oldham (Author)
• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Published: New York Wiley-Interscience 2002
• Series: Basic concepts in chemistry
• Subjects: Quantum chemistry; Quantum theory
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 Quantum Mechanics for Chemists is designed to provide chemistry undergraduates with a basic understanding of the principles of quantum mechanics. The text assumes some knowledge of chemical bonding and a familiarity with the qualitative aspects of molecular orbitals in molecules such as butadine and benzene. Thus it is intended to follow a basic course in organic and/or inorganic chemistry. The approach is rather different from that adopted in most books on quantum chemistry in that the Schrodinger wave equation is introduced at a fairly late stage, after students have become familiar with the application of de Broglie-type wavefunctions to free particles and particles in a box. Likewise, the Hamiltonian operator and the concept of eigenfunctions and eigenvalues are not introduced until the last two chapters of the book, where approximate solutions to the wave equation for many-electron atoms and molecules are discussed. In this way, students receive a gradual introduction to the basic concepts of quantum mechanics.