Gone Fission Nuclear Chemistry

The majority of chemistry focuses on an atom s electrons and how they interact with one another (bonding, orbitals, and so on). All these interactions, however, don t hold a candle to the powerful interactions that occur within the atom s nucleus. If you need proof, go stand outside in the sunlight for a few minutes. The heat that you feel is the result of our solar system s massive nuclear reactor, a.k.a. the Sun Thankfully, that reaction is situated millions of miles away otherwise we wouldn t exist. In fact, nuclear reactions are so powerful they can even transform elements into different elements — an Alchemist s dream (too bad it costs more to synthesize gold in using nuclear chemistry than the gold is worth ). 

The atomic number (Z) is equal to the number of protons (positively charged nucleons) in an atom, whereas the mass number (A) is equal to the sum of the protons (Z) and the neutrons (neutral nucleons, AT) found in an atom s nucleus. For those who are partial to equations A=Z N. 

These competing forces helped form the semi-empirical mass formula (SEMF) shown in the following equation  

Notice that the SEMF equation shown earlier in this section has five distinct terms  

Volume term (ayA) If you have more neutrons and protons, you have more strong force present. Oy is simply a constant as A increases, so does amount of binding energy due to the volume term. 

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