Question

What’s the difference between Nuclear Chemistry and Organic Chemistry?

And what are similarities?

Answer 1

Answer: In the field of chemistry, studying about reactions is one of the most important things that a student has to do. However, apart from the subject, reactions be it chemical or nuclear are the most important types of events that occur in the universe. If we look around, we will find reaction happening everywhere. The most common example of a reaction taking place is the process of photosynthesis in plants. Likewise, human beings also experience some sort of reaction happening inside their bodies all the time.

That being said, here we will focus mainly on chemical and nuclear reactions. We will look at a brief description and further learn about the key differences between chemical reactions and nuclear reactions.

Chemical reaction is a type of reaction where two molecules interact or the atoms of an element reorganize themselves to form a whole new product. On the other hand, nuclear reaction is a type of reaction where the structure of the nucleus of an atom changes completely while releasing energy.

In both reactions reactants combines to give a product.

Nuclear reaction involves a change in the nucleus of the element, in chemical reactions there is a rearrangement in the electrons.

Isotopes behaves similarly in chemical reactions as their electron arrangements are the same, but their nuclear reactions are notably different because of difference in arrangement of neutrons.

Rate of chemical reaction can be influenced by a number of external factors like pressure, temperature, catalyst, etc.

But nuclear reactions are spontaneous and external factors have no influence on it.

More energy is released in nuclear reactions.

Energy is not conserved in nuclear reactions.

Nuclear reactions involve a change in an atom's nucleus, usually producing a different element ,along with the emission of radiations Chemical reactions, on the other hand, involve only a rearrangement of electrons and do not involve changes in the nuclei. So nuclear reaction is nuclear phenomenon and chemical reaction is extra-nuclear phenomenon.

· Different isotopes of an element normally behave similarly in chemical reactions as their extra-nuclear electronic configurations are same. The nuclear chemistry of different isotopes vary greatly from each other.

· Rates of chemical reactions are influenced by external effect like temperature,pressure and catalysts. Rates of nuclear reactions are spontaneous and are unaffected by such factors.

· Nuclear reactions are independent of the chemical form of the element.This means both in elemental and in compound state same amount of radio-element shows similar radioactivity.

· Energy changes accompanying nuclear reactions are much larger. This energy comes from destruction of mass.

· In a nuclear reaction, mass is not strictly conserved. Some of the mass is converted into energy,according to the equation E = mc2 and the order of energy evolved during a nuclear reaction is much higher than that of a chemical reaction.

Step-by-step explanation:

Answer 2

Nuclear chemistry is the subfield of chemistry dealing with radioactivity, nuclear processes, such as nuclear transmutation, and nuclear properties.

It is the chemistry of radioactive elements such as the actinides, radium and radon together with the chemistry associated with equipment (such as nuclear reactors) which are designed to perform nuclear processes. This includes the corrosion of surfaces and the behavior under conditions of both normal and abnormal operation (such as during an accident). An important area is the behavior of objects and materials after being placed into a nuclear wastestorage or disposal site.

It includes the study of the chemical effects resulting from the absorption of radiation within living animals, plants, and other materials. The radiation chemistry controls much of radiation biology as radiation has an effect on living things at the molecular scale, to explain it another way the radiation alters the biochemicals within an organism, the alteration of the biomolecules then changes the chemistry which occurs within the organism, this change in chemistry then can lead to a biological outcome. As a result, nuclear chemistry greatly assists the understanding of medical treatments (such as cancerradiotherapy) and has enabled these treatments to improve.

It includes the study of the production and use of radioactive sources for a range of processes. These include radiotherapy in medical applications; the use of radioactive tracers within industry, science and the environment; and the use of radiation to modify materials such as polymers.[1]

It also includes the study and use of nuclear processes in non-radioactive areas of human activity. For instance, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is commonly used in synthetic organic chemistry and physical chemistry and for structural analysis in macromolecular chemistry.