COURSE STRUCTURE AND GRADING
· 45% 3 midterm EXAMS
o Exams will be either during class or in the testing center on the arranged days throughout the semester. It is departmental policy that exams will not be returned indefinitely, however, there will be ample opportunity to review completed exams in-class, during office hours, or by appointment.
· 25% Final EXAM
o Comprehensive exam covering all material from the course. It will be a standardized American Chemical Society exam featuring multiple choice questions. Therefore, a scantron and pencil are required.
o NOTE: There are no calculators for this exam
· 20% Assigned homework
o Homework assignments will be given for several “Topics” at a time as covered from the textbook and will be a combination of problems selected from the textbook and written by the instructor. The homeworks are designed to be challenging, and to extend the content covered in the lecture to a broader set of applications. However, the framework for all homework problems will be covered in class lectures.
o Some assignments will require the use of plotting software such as Microsoft Excel, Matlab, etc.
· 10% Quizzes
o In-class and take-home quizzes will be given throughout the semester to gauge student progress throughout the course.
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
Week Date Topic “Topic”
1 Jan. 7 Introduction to Quantum Mechanics 7A
Jan. 9 Origins of Quantum Mechanics 7A
2 Jan. 12 7A
Jan. 14 7A
Jan. 16 Wavefunctions and the Schrödinger Equation 7B
3 Jan. 19 MLK Day – No Class
Jan. 21 7B
Jan. 23 Translational Motion and the Particle-in-a-Box 7D
4 Jan. 26 7D
Jan. 28 7D
Jan 30 7D
5 Feb. 2 Operators, Observables, and the Postulates 7C
Feb. 4 7C
Feb. 6 7C
6 Feb. 9 Vibrational Motion 7E
Feb. 11 EXAM 1 (7A-7D)
Feb. 13 7E
7 Feb. 16 President’s day – NO CLASS
Feb. 18 Rotational Motion 7F
Feb. 20 7F
8 Feb. 23 7F
Feb. 25 Introduction to Molecular Spectroscopy 11A
Feb. 27 11A
9 Mar. 2 Rotational Spectroscopy 11B
Mar. 4 Vibrational Spectroscopy of Diatomics 11C
Mar. 6 Vibrational Spectroscopy of Polyatomics 11D
10 Mar. 9 SPRING Break – No Classes
Mar. 11 SPRING Break – No Classes
Mar. 13 SPRING Break – No Classes
11 Mar. 16 The Hydrogen Atom 8A
Mar. 18 8A
Mar. 20 8A
12 Mar. 23 Many-Electron Atoms 8B
Mar. 25 8B
Mar. 27 EXAM 2 (7E−7F, 11, 8A)
13 Mar. 30 8B
Apr. 1 Atomic Spectroscopy 8C
Apr. 3 8C
14 Apr. 6 Chemical Bonding: H2+ 9B
Apr. 8 9B
Apr. 10 Molecular Orbital Theory: Homonuclear Diatomics 9C
15 Apr. 13 Molecular Orbital Theory: Heteronuclear Diatomics 9D
Apr. 15 Molecular Orbital Theory: Polyatomics 9E
Apr. 17 EXAM 3 (8B−8C, 9)
16 Apr. 21 FINAL EXAM, Tues, (11-12:50 AM)