High-Performance Computational Chemistry in Undergraduate Physical Chemistry: Exercises in Homonuclear Diatomic Molecules

This article presents computational chemistry exercises that are designed to be incorporated into an undergraduate physical chemistry course. This activity teaches computational chemistry as it is performed in higher-level research (in a command-line environment and executed on a high-performance computing cluster) to provide students with a foundation of computational chemistry skills for more advanced computational chemistry research. The activity is also a practical application of topics taught in physical chemistry courses, using the linear combination of atomic orbitals molecular orbital (LCAO-MO) theory description of homonuclear diatomic molecules as a basis to introduce students to computational chemistry techniques, density functional theory calculations of physical observables, and the analysis of computational results. Results from a survey assessing students’ learning gains demonstrate that these exercises produce significant gains in students’ computational skills, highlighting the efficacy of this activity in achieving its primary goals.