From: ng4@husc10.harvard.edu (Ho Leung Ng)
Newsgroups: sci.chem
Subject: intro. quantum chem.
Date: 20 Dec 92 03:20:02 GMT


Earlier, I requested recommendations for texts and references useful
for an undergraduate level quantum chemistry course.  Below are some
of the responses I have received.  Much thanks to everyone who
replied!

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A rather easy and good book for the beginner in the field of Quantum Chemistry
is of course P.W.Atkins: Melcular Quantum Mechanics 2.ed. I quite enjoyed while
taking a course in quantum chemistry. My professor has, however some objections
to the book, although none really serious.

We are currently here in Oslo using a book by Frank L.Pilar called Elementary
Quantum Mechanics. I have no personal experience with the book, but it has
taken over the place previously held by Atkins. It is said to be more 
mathematical, but at the same time clearer, then Atkins book. And I personally
think that a clear mathematical presentation of the subject helps a lot on the
understanding.

For a more advanced introduction to the field of Quantum Chemistry I would
recommend the latest edition (2.??) of McWeeny's Methods of Molecular Quantum
Mechanics.


Good Luck with your Quantum Chemistry Course!

Kenneth
--
_______________________________________________________________________________
Kenneth Ruud, doing Chemical Physics at the Department of Chemistry,
University of Oslo, Norway.         E-mail: kenneth@dalton.uio.no

I don't know what the computer language of the year 2000 will look like, but
I know it will be called FORTRAN.
_______________________________________________________________________________


    If you have had Multi-Variable calculus, I would recomend:

    "Quantum Chemistry", by Eyring, Walter, and Kimball. If you are
taking inro quantum chemistry, and are having difficulties understanding the
material of your texts, it is my suspicion that your difficulties arise
from the lack of detail in your current texts. The Eyring book is 
the best introduction to the derivation of atomic term symbols I have seen.
It is a tad more mathematically rigorous than Levine or Karplus and Porter. It
can be found in the library and there also exists a Dover paperback addition
which can be found in the COOP, or any other good bookstore. Sometimes a 
"simpler" explanation is not a clearer explanation.

    Hope this helps.

-Regards

Galen F. Gawboy
Chemical Physics
The Ohio State University


I had an earlier edition of Levine. From my own experience, it's about
as lucid a piece as you're going to find. Levine had a way of planting
ideas in your head - making you think you're the first one to think of
them, and then addressing them in the next chapter :(

The hardest part of QM, though, is the math. I recommend _Applied
Differential Equations_ by Murray R. Spiegel as an extremely simple and
practical reference. Also, _Advanced Calculus_ by Angus Taylor is a calc
book one can crack in the middle and read. I don't recommend either of
these volumes as texts (Spiegel is too simple, and Taylor is too wordy),
but they serve as great quick-and-dirty supplements.

Oh Yes! Use a computer whenever possible, turn your work paper 90
degrees before you start figuring, and buy plenty of pencils.

Good luck!



 Try "The Structure and Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics"
 by R.I.G. Hughes, Harvard University Press, Cambridge (US), 1989.
 ISBN 0-674-84392-4



A classic textbook of quantum mechanics is McQuarrie's _Quantum Chemistry_,
a red cloth hard bound book.  It presents examples and worked out problems
that illustrate the concepts that are sometimes less explicitly presented
in Karplus' _Atoms and Molecules_.  Having used both of these textbooks myself,
I recommend the Mc Quarrie book as an excellent supplement but not as a 
substitute.  I'm certain there are copies in the Harvard Libraries, over at
MIT, or in the Coop.  Good Luck!

Lisa


Try "Physical Chemistry" by Laidler. It has a green and white cover.
It's excellent for undergrad quantum.

Brian Spencer (bspencer@binkley.cs.mcgill.ca)




when i had pchem at michigan, we used atkins' physical chemistry (4th ed).
i like that text quite a bit for quantum chem. atkins also has a
quantum chem book, but much of the material is a (sometimes verbatim)
reproduction of the pchem book with little more to offer.

good luck,
mark
-- 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
mark alan matties			u of akron
markm@iris.polymer.uakron.edu		dept of polymer science
"aoibheann beatha an scola/ire"		akron, ohio, usa


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Ho Leung Ng
Newsgroups: sci.chem,sci.electronics,sci.phys