Atoms, Molecules and Reactions I: Quantum Mechanics and Inorganic Chemistry

This upper division chemistry program is designed to further your studies in chemistry and to prepare you for graduate school or a career in chemistry. The theme of the program is "What do chemists do?" In all aspects of the program, your studies will be connected with the applications chemists encounter in their everyday work.

In the fall quarter, we will focus on quantum mechanics and spectroscopy, and advanced inorganic chemistry. We will study simple quantum mechanical systems in detail, apply them to solve simple chemical problems and investigate how they can be adapted for more complex systems. The experimental data collected using spectroscopic methods will then be analyzed using the quantum mechanical principles investigated in lecture.

In advanced inorganic chemistry, we will explore atomic structure and simple bonding models in chemistry and extend our work to an in-depth study of the molecular orbital theory. We will also investigate symmetry and group theory and their applications in chemistry, as well as acid-base chemistry.

You have the option of taking all or part of the program. The 16 credit option includes all the topics discussed above. As another option you can take just the quantum mechanics portion of the program for 10 upper division science credits provided you are able to do differential and integral calculus. As a third option, you can take the advanced inorganic chemistry portion of the program for 6 upper division science credits. Calculus is not required for this portion.