Molecular Quantum Dynamics

In classical mechanics, one can use Newton’s three laws to translate a classical physics problem into a mathematical one. 1 Roughly speaking, the first and third laws concern the allowed reference frames, which means they are concerned with the relationships between the ways different physical observers describe mathematically the same physical phenomena. The celebrated second law, which reads F = ma, describes the dynamics. Dynamics is the area of science concerned with the forces that cause motion and changes of state of objects. In this context, F is the magnitude of the force applied, m is the mass of the object subject to the force and a is the magnitude of the acceleration that the object has. 2 The equation F = ma leads naturally to a system of ordinary differential equations for the positions of particles as a function of time.