Nuclear Chemistry Part 2: Fusion and Fission - Crash Course Chemistry #39
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As I said before chemistry is, like many aspects of your own life, all about a search for stability. Last week we talked about radioactive decay and how atomic nuclei get rid of various particles in order to become more stable. But what is this illusive stability that all things seem to be striving for exactly? In nuclear chemistry it simply has to do with keeping the nucleus together. If the nucleus is going to break apart, then that's not going to be something that lasts very long. Stability really, is kind of just a way of saying, it can exist. And the amount of energy, that holds each proton or neutron in an atom's nucleus, is the same amount that's released when it's removed. This is known as binding energy and it's one of the fundamental principles of nuclear c...
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As I said before chemistry is, like many aspects of your own life, all about a search for stability. Last week we talked about radioactive decay and how atomic nuclei get rid of various particles in order to become more stable. But what is this illusive stability that all things seem to be striving for exactly? In nuclear chemistry it simply has to do with keeping the nucleus together. If the nucleus is going to break apart, then that's not going to be something that lasts very long. Stability really, is kind of just a way of saying, it can exist. And the amount of energy, that holds each proton or neutron in an atom's nucleus, is the same amount that's released when it's removed. This is known as binding energy and it's one of the fundamental principles of nuclear c...
