CHEM 113A
Physical Chemistry: Introduction to Quantum Mechanics
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Requisites: course 20B, Mathematics 32A, 32B, 33A, Physics 1A, 1B, and 1C, or 1AH, 1BH, and 1CH, or 5A, 5B, and 5C, or 6A, 6B, and 6C, with grades of C- or better. Departure from classical mechanics: Schrödinger versus Newton equations; model systems: particle-in-box, harmonic oscillator, rigid rotor, and hydrogen atom; approximation methods: perturbation and variational methods; many-electron atoms, spin, and Pauli principle, chemical bonding. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2018 - She's pretty good overall. She cares a lot about her students and their individual success and also tries very hard to learn your name. She's also extremely kind and will feed you. I was personally annoyed at mandatory lectures, daily hw, and weekly problem sets, but most all of the assignments were not particularly challenging and her exams are very similar in spirit to the HW and practice tests she gives you so as long as you keep up you can do pretty well. A lot of the more advanced math topics were not covered that well imo and the last two weeks of class are kinda foggy in my brain because the math got too complicated that the book wouldn't go through them anymore so it was just a bunch of formulas thrown at us. The book is OK, not the best. The most stressful part of the class was that the cut off for an A was at 95%, so aim to get every point possible that comes up, including the extra credit assignments. The exams were incredibly dense and took the full 3 hours so make sure to read every question carefully.
Spring 2018 - She's pretty good overall. She cares a lot about her students and their individual success and also tries very hard to learn your name. She's also extremely kind and will feed you. I was personally annoyed at mandatory lectures, daily hw, and weekly problem sets, but most all of the assignments were not particularly challenging and her exams are very similar in spirit to the HW and practice tests she gives you so as long as you keep up you can do pretty well. A lot of the more advanced math topics were not covered that well imo and the last two weeks of class are kinda foggy in my brain because the math got too complicated that the book wouldn't go through them anymore so it was just a bunch of formulas thrown at us. The book is OK, not the best. The most stressful part of the class was that the cut off for an A was at 95%, so aim to get every point possible that comes up, including the extra credit assignments. The exams were incredibly dense and took the full 3 hours so make sure to read every question carefully.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2016 - If you're going to take 113A with Dr. Neuhauser, make sure you understand the following topics: photoelectric effect (along with all the relevant equations), the Rydberg formula derivation, operators and how they produce eigenvalues, potential wells, harmonic oscillators and the derivation for harmonic energy levels (includes raising and lowering operators), commutators (very important), the Schrödinger Equation (and its derivations for time-dependent and time-independent), expectation value and probability calculations, angular momentum operators (L), perturbation theory, and variational principle. If you genuinely understand these concepts, you'll pass with a decent grade. Dr. Neuhauser's lectures are not very helpful, but the homework sets are a great study tool. Use his notes to understand the derivations. The hardest part about this class is figuring out how to prepare for his exams, but overall they were very fair and the averages were in the D range. Dr. Neuhauser doesn't get the credit he deserves. This is a challenging course regardless of who your professor is, but he is always willing to help his students and encourages them to come to office hours. I definitely felt lost the first half of this class, but by the end, I understood how everything came together and it all made sense. Don't be afraid to take this class with Neuhauser. It is very doable.
Winter 2016 - If you're going to take 113A with Dr. Neuhauser, make sure you understand the following topics: photoelectric effect (along with all the relevant equations), the Rydberg formula derivation, operators and how they produce eigenvalues, potential wells, harmonic oscillators and the derivation for harmonic energy levels (includes raising and lowering operators), commutators (very important), the Schrödinger Equation (and its derivations for time-dependent and time-independent), expectation value and probability calculations, angular momentum operators (L), perturbation theory, and variational principle. If you genuinely understand these concepts, you'll pass with a decent grade. Dr. Neuhauser's lectures are not very helpful, but the homework sets are a great study tool. Use his notes to understand the derivations. The hardest part about this class is figuring out how to prepare for his exams, but overall they were very fair and the averages were in the D range. Dr. Neuhauser doesn't get the credit he deserves. This is a challenging course regardless of who your professor is, but he is always willing to help his students and encourages them to come to office hours. I definitely felt lost the first half of this class, but by the end, I understood how everything came together and it all made sense. Don't be afraid to take this class with Neuhauser. It is very doable.
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Winter 2024 - Take this class. Eric is the BEST professor I've ever had. I don't think anyone will ever come close. Not only that, he is also an amazing person. Overall, the topics in this class are conceptually pretty difficult. It is an introductory Quantum Mechanics class that expands on the quantum concepts you may have briefly covered in 20A. There is not a crazy amount of math involved, but solid understanding of integrals and differentiation would be extremely helpful. Eric is amazing at breaking down concepts in an understandable manner. He makes concepts that are otherwise extremely difficult very understandable and intuitive. He is able to explain concepts through intuition, or if you would prefer, through mathematical derivations. He understands the concepts so well and on such a deep-level its actually so inspiring and amazing. The way he is able to articulate it is also crazy. More than that, he is able to connect the concepts learned to real-life applications in such a fun and satisfying manner. This class will probably end up being the most influential class I've taken at UCLA in terms of figuring out my major and research interests. I went to tons of office hours to ask Eric for help with homework and concepts that I struggled with in class, and he was so patient and willing to help. He was so willing to take the time to re-explain concepts I may have missed in class. More than that, he offers lots good advice on classes and topics to take. I'm currently taking a few classes where there are some quantum concepts being covered, and if I didn't take this class, I would've been so lost. Eric is so good at providing big-picture explanations to physics concepts that are actually really helping me in a lot of my current classes. In terms of easiness, I don't think it was an "easy" class. However, Eric is just such a phenomenal teacher it makes this class much more approachable and interesting. I hope Eric gets a permanent position here at UCLA, because his dedication to student learning and commitment to his own research is just something I've never encountered before. And Diego our TA. The BEST TA I've ever had. He supplements Eric's lectures so DAMN well. While Eric provides very good intuition and big-picture understanding for concepts, Diego provides the mathematical derivations and basis for the concepts. Diego is also just such an approachable and funny guy. It is clear that Diego knows his concepts SUPER fricking well too. He expands further on the concepts Eric taught while giving really funny examples, such as throwing a baseball through a slit at his grandma. He made discussions very lively and fun while also being very helpful for the HW questions. Overall, 10/10 class. Thank you Eric and Diego.
Winter 2024 - Take this class. Eric is the BEST professor I've ever had. I don't think anyone will ever come close. Not only that, he is also an amazing person. Overall, the topics in this class are conceptually pretty difficult. It is an introductory Quantum Mechanics class that expands on the quantum concepts you may have briefly covered in 20A. There is not a crazy amount of math involved, but solid understanding of integrals and differentiation would be extremely helpful. Eric is amazing at breaking down concepts in an understandable manner. He makes concepts that are otherwise extremely difficult very understandable and intuitive. He is able to explain concepts through intuition, or if you would prefer, through mathematical derivations. He understands the concepts so well and on such a deep-level its actually so inspiring and amazing. The way he is able to articulate it is also crazy. More than that, he is able to connect the concepts learned to real-life applications in such a fun and satisfying manner. This class will probably end up being the most influential class I've taken at UCLA in terms of figuring out my major and research interests. I went to tons of office hours to ask Eric for help with homework and concepts that I struggled with in class, and he was so patient and willing to help. He was so willing to take the time to re-explain concepts I may have missed in class. More than that, he offers lots good advice on classes and topics to take. I'm currently taking a few classes where there are some quantum concepts being covered, and if I didn't take this class, I would've been so lost. Eric is so good at providing big-picture explanations to physics concepts that are actually really helping me in a lot of my current classes. In terms of easiness, I don't think it was an "easy" class. However, Eric is just such a phenomenal teacher it makes this class much more approachable and interesting. I hope Eric gets a permanent position here at UCLA, because his dedication to student learning and commitment to his own research is just something I've never encountered before. And Diego our TA. The BEST TA I've ever had. He supplements Eric's lectures so DAMN well. While Eric provides very good intuition and big-picture understanding for concepts, Diego provides the mathematical derivations and basis for the concepts. Diego is also just such an approachable and funny guy. It is clear that Diego knows his concepts SUPER fricking well too. He expands further on the concepts Eric taught while giving really funny examples, such as throwing a baseball through a slit at his grandma. He made discussions very lively and fun while also being very helpful for the HW questions. Overall, 10/10 class. Thank you Eric and Diego.
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