Department of Chemistry The City College of New York

Physical Chemistry II and Physical Chemistry II workshop

Chemistry 33200, Chemistry 33201

Instructor: Professor M. Green

Contact information: Office location – MR-1130; Telephone – 212-650-6034; Email: green@sci.ccny.cuny.edu

Instructor office hours: T, 9-10, Th 10-11 (or by appointment)

Course description: Spectroscopy, quantum mechanics, and statistical thermodynamics

Prerequisites: Chemistry 33000 (Math 391 highly recommended)

Class schedule: Chem 33200: M,W, 9:30-10:45, 3hrs/week, 3 credits;

Chem 33201, F 9:30-10:50, 2 hrs/week, 0 credits

Textbook: “Physical Chemistry” by Silbey, Alberty, and Bawendi, (4^th edition, Wiley); there may from time to time be handouts, including answers to problems.

Course objectives: Students should

1) Understand the fundamentals of quantum mechanics, from Schrodinger equation, starting with particle in a box, and continuing through atoms to semi-empirical molecular orbital calculations

2) Understand symmetry operations: fundamental principles, simple cases in spectroscopy (no group theory, however)

3) Understand basic spectroscopy: application of quantum mechanics to rotational, vibrational, and electronic spectra

4) Understand Statistical thermodynamics, through calculation of partition functions for a diatomic ideal gas, and derivation of thermodynamic quantities

Assessment/grading/policies: There will be three hour examinations plus a final examination; the lowest hour exam will be dropped; if a student misses an exam for any reason whatever, that becomes the low grade. There are no makeup exams. (The final grade may be curved, and there is no way to make up fair comparable exams—the fairest procedure is to drop a missed exam). Students who miss more than one exam should drop the course. There will also be homework assignments, at least 7, possibly more. The allocation of credit is:

Two best hour exams: 45%, final, 45% homework, 10%. There may be very small adjustments for outstanding class participation.

Weekly schedule and topics to be covered:

Week	Topics
1	Basic quantum theory: Schrodinger eqn, operators, particle in a box
2	Angular momentum, postulates of quantum mechanics
3,4	Hydrogen-like atoms through the periodic table (Aufbau principle)
5 (1^st class)	Exam 1 (All topics in first 4 weeks)
5 (2^ndclass),6	Molecular structure, through Huckel MO; some applications
7	Symmetry: Basic symmetry operations, consequences for dipoles
8	Spectroscopy: fundamental ideas, selection rules for rotational, vibrational spectroscopy
9 (1^st class)	Exam 2
9(2^nd class),10(1^st class)	Electronic spectroscopy (not including special topics)
11	Intro Statistical Thermo: Boltzmann distribution to partition functions
12	Partition functions of atomic, diatomic ideal gases
13 (1^st class)	Exam 3
13 (2^nd class),14 (1^st class	Special topics
14 (2^nd class)	Review

Other information: 1) Concerning the workshops: The course is largely designed to assume that you will attend the workshop, even though it is nominally optional. Obviously, there is an advantage to attending, or we would not bother. There may be only limited time devoted to solving the kind of problems that will appear on the exams during the M,W official class, as it is assumed that there will be additional practice during the workshop.

2) Homework: Even though the homework is only 10% of the official grade, it is critical; it is the only way you can see whether you are doing an adequate job. You will be given the answers after the problems are handed in, but this will not help if you have not made a very serious effort to do them on your own. Students who do not do the homework almost always fail.

3) My stated office hours are rather limited; if you need to see me, and cannot come during the office hours, let me know, and we can set a more convenient time. If I am in my office, and don’t have other guests, dropins are OK.

4) You will notice that the topics in the weekly schedule are those of successive chapters of the textbook. Problems will also be assigned from the text; if you do not have the text, or at least access to it, you will be unable to follow the course. I assume you have the text from Chem 330 (same text); if not, perhaps you can get a less expensive copy on-line, or used.

Academic integrity: The CCNY policy on academic integrity will be followed. Document is posted on the CCNY website (CUNY policy on academic integrity—link is at the bottom of the home page). Make sure you have read the details regarding plagiarism and cheating, in case you are not clear about the rules of the college. Cases where academic integrity is compromised will be prosecuted according to these rules.