Publisher's Synopsis
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 Schrödinger 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.
