Quantum Mechanics for Chemistry - Quantum Mechanics for Chemistry

Fall 2026 schedule¶

Homework is due Mondays at the start of class, beginning the second week; each assignment covers the previous week’s lectures. No homework is due in exam week 12 or over Thanksgiving. Both midterm exams are in class on Fridays. The schedule below is the plan. Dates for exams and projects will be additionally confirmed in class and on Canvas.

Week	Dates	Topics	Slides	Due
1	Aug 24 - 28	Ch 1: Why quantum mechanics · Need for quantization · Photoelectric effect	1.1 · 1.2 · 1.3
2	Aug 31 - Sep 4	Ch 1: Atomic spectra · Wave-particle duality	1.4 · 1.5	HW 1: Blackbody radiation (Mon Aug 31)
3	Sep 7 - 11	Ch 2: Waves No class Mon (Labor Day)	2.1	HW 2: Bohr model and duality (Wed Sep 9)
4	Sep 14 - 18	Ch 2: The wave equation	2.2	HW 3: Complex numbers (Mon Sep 14)
5	Sep 21 - 25	Ch 3: Schrödinger equation and the wavefunction	3.1	HW 4: Classical waves (Mon Sep 21) Project 1: Waves (Fri Sep 25)
6	Sep 28 - Oct 2	Ch 3: Particle in a box	3.2 · 3.3	HW 5: Schrödinger equation (Mon Sep 28) Exam 1 (Fri Oct 2, Ch 1-3) prep: equation sheet, review HW 1-5
7	Oct 5 - 9	Ch 3: Tunneling and finite wells · Operators · Eigenvalues and expectation	3.4 · 3.5 · 3.6	HW 6: Particle in a box (Mon Oct 5)
8	Oct 12 - 16	Ch 3: Time dependence · Fourier transforms (Appendix A)	3.7	HW 7: Postulates of QM (Mon Oct 12) Project 2: Particle in a Box (Fri Oct 16)
9	Oct 19 - 23	Ch 4: Degrees of freedom and classical vibrations · Quantum oscillator	4.1 · 4.2	HW 8: Time dependence (Mon Oct 19)
10	Oct 26 - 30	Ch 4: Molecular vibrations · Angular momentum · Rigid rotor	4.3 · 4.4 · 4.5	HW 9: Harmonic oscillator (Mon Oct 26) Project 3: Quantum Waves (Fri Oct 30)
11	Nov 2 - 6	Ch 5: Hydrogen-like atoms	5.1	HW 10: Angular momentum (Mon Nov 2)
12	Nov 9 - 13	Ch 5: Atomic orbitals · Spin	5.2 · 5.3	Exam 2 (Fri Nov 13, Ch 4-5) prep: equation sheet, review HW 6-10 no homework due this week
13	Nov 16 - 20	Ch 6: Variational method · Perturbation theory · Time-dependent perturbation	6.1 · 6.2 · 6.3	HW 11: Hydrogen and spin (Mon Nov 16) Project 4: Atomic Orbitals (Fri Nov 20)
14	Nov 23 - 27	Thanksgiving break, no classes
15	Nov 30 - Dec 4	Ch 7: Helium · Multi-electron atoms · Hartree-Fock · Term symbols	7.1 · 7.2 · 7.3 · 7.4	HW 12: Approximation methods (Mon Nov 30)
16	Dec 7 - 11	Ch 8: Born-Oppenheimer · H2+ ion · H2 molecule · Polyatomics · Hückel theory · Dipoles and bonding, review	8.1 · 8.2 · 8.3 · 8.4 · 8.5 · 8.6	HW 13: Multi-electron atoms (Mon Dec 7)
Finals	Dec 14 - 18	Final exam (comprehensive)		prep: equation sheet, review all homework

Weekly rhythm: homework covers the previous week’s lectures, and the four computational projects are spaced roughly three weeks apart, due on Fridays of non-exam weeks. Each number in the Slides column opens that lecture’s deck; the full set lives on the Lecture Slides page.