CH3004:03
Physical Chemistry
Townsville
Prerequisites: CH2001 or CH2002
32 lectures, 4 tutorials, 36 hours practicals. Second semester.
Staff: Dr B McCool.
An introduction to quantum mechanics and its application to simple systems; atomic structure; rotational and vibration spectroscopy of molecules; the electronic structure of molecules; an introduction to computational techniques for molecular structure; molecular mechanics, semi-empirical and ab initio SCF methods; kinetics of vinyl polymerisation, branched chain reactions and ionic reactions in solution; measurement of fast reaction rates.
Learning Objectives:
- use modern computational techniques to model molecular structures;
- apply quantum mechanics to chemical problems;
- understand the detailed mechanism of free radical polymerisation and the parameters that determine polymerisation rates and polymer molecular weights;
- understand the mechanism of branched chain reactions and the factors that influence the rate of ionic reactions in solution;
- describe the procedures involved in a variety of techniques used for measuring fast reaction rates.
Assessment by laboratory work and reports (25%); a three-hour examination (75%).
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