Abdo A. Elfiky

Quantum mechanics is the study of the mechanical systems whose dimensions are close to the subatomic scale, such as bonds, atoms, electrons and protons. This course is the first course of two-course series, this course is intended to focus on Quantum MODEL while the second course is a Biophysics 4rth year course (Computational Biophysics) and focuses on COMPUTATION which goes beyond the model to calculate physical parameters out of it. Quantum modeling assumes a considerable attention in biophysical chemistry as one of the most promising areas of molecular modeling with its unique approaches to study the atomic particles and chemical bond formation and breaking, to present deep understanding of the behavior of the transition states of chemical bonding and to calculate the electron densities of the molecules. The course is subdivided into three main parts, the first part covers the principles of the Quantum Physics (e.g. the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, duality nature, quantization of energy and angular momentum), the second part covers the basics of the Quantum Chemistry (where the students are trained to solve the Schrödinger equation in the case of hydrogen ion molecule and hydrogen molecule) and the third part deals with quantum modeling of larger molecules. The main focus of the molecular quantum mechanical study in this course is to enhance the student's skills in modeling the Hamiltonian, designing the wave function, solving the Schrödinger equation in each case and applying these results in Biophysical chemistry to calculate physical parameters like electron density and electrostatic potential. The course ends at the numerical Roothaan-Hall equation which is handled by the Ab-initio methods and Semi-empirical methods and is the premise of the Computational Biophysics course in the 4^th year