Chemistry and Quantum Mechanics

Of quantum physics, quantum chemistry and quantum mechanics, the latter is least useful for both chemical education and the practice of chemistry as a science concerned with the reactions and properties of chemical substances. We show that quantum mechanics must be viewed as a collection of methods, numbering at least thirteen, that one might apply for calculations on a system of an atomic scale. Instead of quantum mechanics we advocate the quantum laws or laws of discreteness, which have simple roots in laws of conservation and which have practical applications in various areas of observations of chemical phenomena. We conclude that quantum mechanics is largely irrelevant for the general practice of chemistry.