Dr. K's Basics of Nuclear Chemistry
What you'll learn
- Basic topics of Nuclear Chemistry are all covered here.
- Each topic is covered in great detail with plenty of examples and practice assignments for each lecture.
- Introduction to Nuclear Chemistry
- Review of Atomic and Nuclear Structures
- Nuclear Binding Energy
- Nuclear Stability
- Nuclear Reactions
- Radioactive Decay Processes
- Balancing Nuclear Reactions and Radioactive Decay
- Radioactive Half-Lives
- Radioactive Decay Series
- Radiometric Dating
- Nuclear Fission
- Nuclear Reactors
- Nuclear Fusion
- Transmutation Reactions
- Uses of Radioisotopes
- Detecting and Measuring Radioactivity
- Biological Effects of Radiation
Requirements
- Completion of First and Second Semester General Chemistry.
- A working knowledge of high school algebra including natural logarithms and exponential functions.
- A desire and interest in learning about Nuclear Chemistry.
Description
This course covers the basics of Nuclear Chemistry, as it may be taught in a first-year college chemistry course if there is time to do so. A year of General Chemistry will provide the necessary background.
Students in this course have access to ample supplemental material, all of which will be found in the Resource Folders. In addition to the 6 hours of lectures, downloadable audio mp3 files of each lecture are included. For nearly all lectures, a Practice Assignment where you can test your understanding of the material can be found in the Resource Folder. Also included is a detailed answer key for each Practice Assignment. Any graphs, figures or tables presented in the lectures are also available as downloadable files. The content of this course is as extensive as both of my General Chemistry courses that are also available on Udemy.
This course assumes that you have completed General Chemistry I & II college courses. While you will not need to be familiar with all topics covered in those courses, you should have a good understanding of atomic structure, converting between different units, particularly between mass and moles, first-order kinetics and stoichiometry. Because nuclear decay follows first-order kinetics, familiarity with natural logarithms and exponential functions is a plus. Since this course covers only the basics of Nuclear Chemistry, calculus is not required. In fact, not every topic in this course will involve math. Anyone who is interested in learning about various aspects of this topic may find this course beneficial, especially if you had no exposure to Nuclear Chemistry in your studies.
Who this course is for:
- Anyone who is curious about Nuclear Chemistry basics.
- Anyone who wants to learn the basics in preparation for a full semester course.
Instructor
- 4.7 Instructor Rating
- 1,759 Reviews
- 9,032 Students
- 7 Courses
Gregory Kowalczyk (Dr. K.) has a Ph. D. in Chemistry and is Professor Emeritus having taught Chemistry for 21 years at a public state university, much of which was General Chemistry. Prior to entering academe, he worked in the electric power industry for 20 years as an environmental analyst. Although he is not a professional baker, he has been making his own breads for 35 years. He lives with his wife, Jan, who is also a chemist and enjoys making bread.