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Undergraduate computational chemistry can be significantly enhanced through the use of Gaussian for Windows, allowing students to explore ab initio computations and the effects of varied calculational levels and orbital choices. Free-standing personal computers have advantages over mainframes in that they do not require computer accounts, have quick processors and do not have batch queues. An experiment using Gaussian for Windows to calculate the diatomic molecule HCl's electronic and structural properties is provided.

A laboratory experiment involving the isotope exchange reaction between DCl and HBr reveals a close relation of quantum theory with statistical mechanics and measurements at the microscopic level. A gas-phase NMR experiment with sensitive, pulsed NMR instruments efficiently measures the equilibrium constant, K(sub p), for the reaction. The reaction between D2O and benzoyl chloride produces DCl.

A study of the fluorescent lifetime of exited iodide and its variation with pressure when different quenching gases are added, are experimented. This experiment gives students valuable experience with lasers and computerized instrumentation.