618-282 Applied Mathematics for Chemical Physics

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Objectives:

On completion of this subject, students should:

Comprehend:

• the mathematical formulation of reaction schemes;

• how surface tension governs the shape of fluid interfaces;

• how electric multipoles of a molecule arise and why they appear in spectroscopy;

• the mathematical formulation and solution of diffusion problems;

Have developed:

• experience in running and interpreting the results of numerical software for reaction kinetics and molecular dynamics;

• skills in the analytic solution of simple reaction kinetics;

• experience in solving diffusion problems in chemical applications;

• skills in the solution of simple electrostatic problems arising in colloid science.

Appreciate:

• the role of analytic and numerical solutions in chemical reaction kinetics;

• the connection between microscopic dynamics and some simple macroscopic properties;

• the role of diffusion in chemical processes.

Content:

Aspects of the following topics will be discussed: reaction kinetics including polymerisation reactions, analytic and numerical methods; simple kinetic theory of gases; simple molecular dynamics; capillarity; the shape of drops; the electric multipole expansion of a molecule; the molecular wavefunction and spectroscopy; colloidal electrostatics; diffusion problems and simple reaction-diffusion.

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