Dr. K's Basics of Nuclear Chemistry

Name: Dr. K's Basics of Nuclear Chemistry
Rating: 4.7 (33 reviews)

A Nuclear Chemistry Course Taught on the General Chemistry Level

Highest Rated

Created byGregory Kowalczyk

Last updated 4/2026

English

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

Course content

1 section • 17 lectures • 6h 4m total length

Introduction to Nuclear Chemistry12:59
Review of Atomic and Nuclear Structure27:15
Review of sub-atomic particles, atomic notation and isotopes.
Nuclear Binding Energy17:07
Nuclear Stability25:43
The differences and similarities between nuclear and ordinary chemical reactions are discussed in this lecture.
Nuclear Reactions14:15
Nuclear stability is discussed in terms of neutron to proton ratios, magic numbers, odd and even numbers of nucleons and binding energy per nucleon. The chart of the nuclides is presented and discussed. URL given in resources folder.
Radioactive Decay Processes23:45
The fives different processes by which a radioactive nuclide may decay are identified and discussed in terms of the neutron to proton ratios of the radionuclide.
Balancing Nuclear Reactions and Nuclear Decay23:31
The method for balancing nuclear reactions for the five decay processes is explained and examples are shown using the chart of the includes.
Radionuclide Half-Lives27:24
Half-Life is defined and the equation to calculate it is derived. Several examples are given.
Radioactive Decay Series12:21
The four radioactive decay series are presented and discussed.
Radiometric Dating32:29
Several different methods for using radionuclides to determine the age of objects are described including the use of carbon-14.
Nuclear Fission28:16
Nuclear Fission, fission fragments and the nuclear chain reaction are defined and discussed. The amount of energy that can be obtained from fission is calculated.
Nuclear Reactors29:27
The operation and principle components of a nuclear power plant are described and discussed.
Nuclear Fusion10:26
Nuclear Fusion is defined and explained. The problems associated with the development of fusion reactors to generate electricity is also discussed.
Transmutation Reactions16:26
Transmutation Reactions are defined and examples for the discovery of transuranium elements are given.
Uses of Radioisotopes18:51
Several uses of Radioisotopes are discussed including uses in medicine and commercial products. There is no Practice Assignment for this lecture.
Detecting and Measuring Radioactive28:52
The penetrating power of alpha, beta and gamma particles is presented. Methods and units for detecting and reporting radioactivity are discussed. A method for calculating the expected amount of activity in a sample is shown. A video demonstrating the use of a Geiger counter is included.
Biological Effects of Radiation15:45
The effects of radiation exposure to humans was discussed including exposure to radon.

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.