Physical chemistry / Book / Robert J. Silbey, Class of 1942, Professor of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Robert A. Alberty, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, George A. Papadantonakis, Clinical Associate Professor of Chemistry, University of Illinois Chicago, Moungi G. Bawendi, Professor of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Includes index

"The objective of this book is to make the concepts and methods of physical chemistry clear and interesting to students who have had a year of calculus and a year of physics. The underlying theory of chemical phenomena is complicated, and so it is a challenge to make the most important concepts and methods understandable to undergraduate students. However, these basic ideas are accessible to students, and they will find them useful whether they are chemistry majors, biologists, engineers, or earth scientists. The basic theory of chemistry is presented from the viewpoint of academic physical chemists, but many applications of physical chemistry to practical problems are described. There are many significant changes in the fifth edition. These include the discussion of the differential scanning calorimetry, the kinetics of electron-transfer reactions, the optical spectroscopic characterization of biopolymer structure emphasizing on the application of UV-circular dichroism, vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) and Raman optical activity (ROA) on the structure of selected peptides. In addition, the concepts of fluorescence resonance transfer, and the advantages of Fourier transform IR over the dispersive version are discussed extensively. The chapter on quantum mechanics is largely revised and the Caratheodory' s principle is discussed in the context of the second law of thermodynamics. At the end of each chapter there are Questions on Concepts and Ideas that will provide the opportunity for the student to emphasize on the physical meaning of the ideas and concepts discussed and understand in depth the material. Certain mathematical techniques are explained in the format of Mathematical Notes in selected chapters and they help students to review quickly concepts in mathematics involved beyond basic Calculus. One of the important objectives of a course in physical chemistry is to learn how to solve numerical problems, help emphasize concepts in the underlying theory, and illustrate practical applications. In order to achieve the above, the fifth edition include exercises and four types of problems: general problems that can be solved with a handheld calculator, numerical (graph) problems, theoretical problems and COMPUTER PROBLEMS that require a personal computer with a mathematical application installed. The answers to exercises are given in the back of the textbook, and worked-out solutions to these problems are given in the Solutions Manual for Physical Chemistry. The answers for the general problems are given in the Solutions Manual. The numerical methods (graph) problems can be solved more conveniently on a personal computer with a statistical software program, like Microsoft Excel, SigmaPlot, Origin etc. There are 170 COMPUTER PROBLEMS that require a personal computer with a mathematical application such as Mathematica, MathCad, MATLAB, or MAPLE installed. These mathematical applications make it possible to undertake problems that were previously too difficult or too time consuming. This is particularly true for two- and three-dimensional plots, integration and differentiation of complicated functions, and solving differential equations. The Solutions Manual for Physical Chemistry provides Mathematica programs and printouts for the COMPUTER PROBLEMS"-- Provided by publisher.

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