So my freshman year at college is wrapping up, and that means we are doing all those oddball chapters in chemistry, including nuclear chemistry. This is a subject I am very interested in, but I have some general questions about the field.

 

There seems to be a general feeling that this type of science is in the realm of physics. Yet it is taught in chemistry classes as well. Is there a difference between a nuclear chemist and a nuclear physicist? Would getting a degree in chemistry not prepare me for this field compared to getting a degree in physics?

If you look closely enough, all sciences are really just branches of physics

If you look closely enough, all sciences are really just branches of physics

 

Many of them are branches that know you can't solve the 3 body problem.

 

The nuclear physics part of a chemistry course is very much the trivial bits. The maths (and physics) involved in real nuclear physics is much harder.

 

(BTW, I'm a chemist)

If you truly want to learn more about radiation and nuclear sciences, Physics is really the best way to go. Nuclear chemistry is really quite limited, and while it's been a long, long time since I've taken a chemistry course, I believe that the basics of nuclear chemistry really just focus on the rates of decay, the types of decays, and how that decay affects the way the element/compound reacts.

 

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I'm jet-lagged, medicated, and not in a full state of mind. (Just got back from Lisbon last night).