ORDINARY CHEMISTRY AND NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY - BASIC COMPARISON AND TUTORIALS

An atom consists of a nucleus that is made of positively charged protons and neutral neutrons, and electrons surrounding it, as we outlined above. Two entirely different types of chemistry stem from this structure.

One is concerned with the nucleus and the other with how electrons behave. The former is “nuclear chemistry,” with “radiochemistry” as its important sub-discipline. The latter is the ordinary “chemistry.”

The basic reason for this division is that the nuclear forces binding protons and neutrons in the nucleus are enormously stronger than the electrostatic force binding the electrons to the nucleus. When one applies a force to a substance and induces a change, a certain amount of energy may be expended or gained.

Hence, an energy change always accompanies a change in substance. “Energy” is often used as a measure of a change in science, particularly in chemistry.

In terms of energy, then, a nuclear reaction (change in general) is greater by several orders of magnitude (typically a million times) than a typical chemical reaction, as the nuclear reaction involves changes in protons/neutrons in the nucleus while chemical reactions involve changes in electrons.

Therefore, ordinary chemical reactions would not be able to cause a change in nucleus (i.e., nuclear reaction). As a result, it is quite safe to deal with nuclear chemistry as separate from “ordinary” chemistry.

As a corollary, all isotopes that belong to an element, though they have different atomic masses, can be assumed to behave (approximately) the same chemically. However, isotopes behave very differently in terms of nuclear reactions.

It is now obvious that principles governing nuclear reactions are quite different from those operating in the ordinary chemical reactions.