Introduction to Quantum Mechanics with Applications to Chemistry (Dover Books on Physics)
by Linus Pauling, E. Bright Wilson Jr., Physics
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Book Summary Information
Author: E. Bright Wilson Jr., Linus Pauling, PhysicsEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1985-03-01
ISBN: 0486648710
Number of pages: 468
Publisher: Dover Publications
Book Reviews of Introduction to Quantum Mechanics with Applications to Chemistry (Dover Books on Physics)
Book Review: (Still) An Excellent Quantum Mechanics Book
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an introductory quantum mechanics book that focuses exclusively on how this new (at the time this book was written) mechanics clarifies the nature of chemical bonds. By focusing on this problem this book is able to provide a simplified treatment of quantum mechanics as unbound electron states can be excluded. The treatment is further simplified by ingoring all magnetic effects such as spin-orbit coupling. By doing so, even more simplifcation is permitted in the form of an extremely elementary treatment of spin, basically up or down. As such there are no spinors or Pauli matrices anywhere in this work. Finally, relativistic effects are neglected as well.
The introductory chapters provide a brief review of pertinent ideas in classical mechanics and then present the essential elements of the orginal Sommerfield quantum mechanics. This is useful to students as this theory is often used in examples and is interesting historically. These chapters culminate in a detailed chapter on the electron wave functions for the hydrogen atom which includes a table of these functions as well as graphs so the student can spend some time really getting to know them. That's a good thing as they are heavily relied upon through the rest of the book, and this book is filled with useful and helpful tables and figures such as these.
Next are two chapters on approximation methods. Time independent perturbation theory and the variational method are emphasized, and both are used heavily and extremely illuminatingly in the remainder of the text. The use of these tools was one of my favorite things about this book.
This is an excellent text and I would suggest a student of quantum mechanics read it early, certainly before Dirac. Whether or not it is suitable as a first text on the subject is a different matter. This book provides extremely poor motivation (as in none) for Schordinger's equation, simply introducing it in an entirely postulatory manner. This was a difficult pill for me to swallow pedagocically, but it definitely simplifies the treatment as there is no need to discuss Fourier transforms for instance as is necessary in The Principles of Statistical Mechanics for example.
For the serious student of quantum chemistry, this book may well be considered only a meager and dated introduction, but it is excellent nonetheless. And any early stage student of quantum theory should find this book highly profitable reading.
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