Michael Cederbaum, age 15, of Bridgeport, Connecticut, for his question.:.
Is nuclear reaction a chemical reaction?
Nuclear reactions occur in uranium and other naturally radioactive substances, and these substances are rated as chemicals. But their nuclear activity is very different from the chemical reactions in a burning candle. However, dynamic nuclear reactions can cause ordinary and extraordinary chemical reactions to occur in other substances.
Weird wizards of long ago mixed medicinal magic from plants and dreamed of a fountain of youth to cure all human ills. They also dreamed of fulfilling all human wants by transmuting common lead into precious gold. They staged shadowy experiments with lots of mystifying mumbo jumbo, but their dreams could not be realized. Those abracadabra alchemists of the Middle Ages worked with chemicals. They failed because they did not know the ABC's of the science of chemistry. Our modern chemists are making some of their impossible dreams come true.
The basic ABC's of chemistry were fathomed in the 19th century. Atoms of the chemical elements were sifted and sorted, nature's recipes of chemical changes and reactions were solved and copied. Scientists saw how the few basic atoms arrange and rearrange themselves into a multitude of different molecules. Atoms of sodium and chlorine form molecules of salt. Fire changes molecules of wood into gaseous vapors and ashes. But these and other ordinary chemical reactions do not change the weight or the nature of the basic atom. They involve only the outer edges of the atoms.
The structure of the atom has since been compared to a miniature solar system, with planetary electrons orbiting around a central solar nucleus. In ordinary chemical reactions, energetic electrons of assorted atoms attract .or repel each other. This Chemical activity either ties their parent atoms into molecule packages or unties the packages into separate atoms. The basic atomic nuclei of the ingredients are unharmed and remain unchanged to continue their chemical reaction careers in other recipes.
The science of chemistry was enjoying these reliable recipes when someone discovered radioactivity. This event led our 20th century chemists into an astounding new world. Radioactivity changes the nucleus and hence the very atom itself. The nature of each nuclear reaction chemical element depends upon the precise number of protons in its atomic nucleus. A change in this department changes an atom into an atom of some other element. Nuclear reaction is a far cry from the chemical reaction that occurs when atoms team up to make salt molecules. Nuclear reactions and Chemical reactions are so devastatingly different that we classify them in separate branches of chemistry.
A specialist in ordinary chemistry performs chemical reactions to create new plastics and wonder drugs. He may fulfill some of the alchemists olden dreams, but he does not change the basic nucleus of the atom. A nuclear scientist's reactions change the very atom itself. Atomic scientists really can transmute elements, though at present they are not busy turning tons of lead into tons of gold.
Energy is either used up or given off as atoms and molecules rearrange themselves in chemical reactions. But most of the atom's energy is locked in its nucleus. When nuclei are split in atomic fission or when small nuclei are welded into bigger ones by atomic fusion, dynamic nuclear energies are released. The weird wizards of yesteryear are long gone. It is your generation's turn to dream and to help mankind decide how our new forces shall be used. For the energy from nuclear reactions can cause either destructive or constructive chemical changes in other substances.