Definition of Nuclear Chemistry

When we talk about nuclear chemistry we refer to a specific phenomenon, radioactivity. Keep in mind that radioactivity is a natural phenomenon that was discovered by chance by the French physicist Henri Becquerel when he was investigating you go out she of uranium and unexpectedly she found that when placed on a dark plate said plate blacken. This was because the uranium salts generated radiation that passed through certain materials.

This discovery led another researcher, Marie Curie, to delve into Becquerel's work, specifically with the discovery of radiation. Curie's research was based on one principle: radiation depends on the properties of the atoms that make up the chemical elements.

Types of nuclear radiation

Nuclear chemistry studies the reactions that occur in the nucleus of atoms. During the reactions generated, the atoms release a large amount of Energy, specifically atomic energy. This means that radioactivity is a process of change, natural or artificial, that occurs in the composition of the nucleus of an atom.

Natural radioactivity is the spontaneous decomposition of unstable atomic nuclei and with the release of radiation of high energy intensity. The radiations emitted are of three types: alpha, beta and gamma.

In alpha type radiation is positive, in beta radiation is negative and in gamma radiation there is no electric charge. These changes occur due to the penetrating power of each type of radiation. The emission of solar rays is a clear example of natural radioactivity.

Artificial radioactivity in the field of medicine

Artificial radiations are those that have been created by humans for some purpose, especially in the medical or industrial sectors. In medicine we speak of nuclear medicine, a discipline in which diagnoses and treatments are carried out through images called scans. These images are based on the detection of radioactive substances that detect gamma radiation.

The information obtained from nuclear medicine studies represents the physiology of an organ, which is much more accurate than the information provided by radiology conventional.

Nuclear reactors and the atomic bomb are based on the principles of nuclear chemistry

Nuclear reactors produce electric power thanks to the energy obtained from uranium (in a nuclear reactor, the useful energy of one gram of uranium is equivalent to the energy extracted from 2,500 kilos of burned coal).

The atomic bomb has immense destructive power, to such an extent that the bombs that were dropped on Japan during World War II they had a destructive capacity equivalent to that of 10,000 tons of TNT.

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