1. Tell me what is titration?

Titration is a process to determine the molarity of a base or an acid. In this process a reaction is carried out between the known volumes of a solution with a known concentration, against the known volume of a solution with an unknown concentration.

2. Tell me what is the special property it has?

Well, the special property is that if it is bombarded with neutrons, then the uranium nucleus will split in two, and with that a large amount of energy is released in the form of heat. And this is called fission.

3. Explain azimuthal Quantum Number?

It is denoted by l. Through this quantum number we get to know the number of sub-shells present in the main shell. It also gives information about the shapes of various shells present within the same principal shell and also about the relative energies associated with these sub-shells.

4. Tell me what is plutonium? Does it occur naturally?

Plutonium is simply a material that is very like uranium, being produced from uranium. It's produced by the absorption of a neutron in uranium, and you get this new metal which has been called plutonium. Its properties are not dissimilar to one of the isotopes of one of the kinds of uranium that exist in the earth's crust. It is fissionable, like the fissionable isotope of uranium. That is to say, you could make a reactor out of it, out of plutonium.

5. What is hund's rule of maximum multiplicity?

Electron pairing in p, d and f orbitals cannot occur until each orbital of a given subshell contains one electron or is singly occupied. This happens because electrons being identical in charge repel each other when present at the same orbital.

6. Tell me what makes a molecule into organic molecule?

In a molecule when hydrogen atom is less than the ratio of carbon atom, then such molecules are referred as an organic molecule.

7. Do you know the term Aliquot and Diluent?

Aliquot : It is a measured sub-volume of original sample
Diluent: Material with which sample is diluted

8. Tell me what is plutonium? Is it a metal like uranium?

Plutonium is, in fact, a metal very like uranium. If you hold it [in] your hand (and I've held tons of it my hand, a pound or two at a time), it's heavy, like lead. It's toxic, like lead or arsenic, but not much more so.

9. Tell us was Chernobyl as bad as it could get?

That's as bad an accident as you can get from a nuclear plant. And worse than any accident in a modern nuclear plant could possibly be. The point is that that reactor was on fire for days and days and days, with radioactive material going up into the air. But it was the crudest kind of reactor, which the Soviets thankfully have stopped building.

10. Tell me what is Avogadro's law?

According to Avogadro's law, at same temperature and pressure equal volume of gases contains the same number or molecules regardless of the chemical nature and physical properties.

Avogadro's number = 6.023 X 10 (-23)

11. Tell me the formula to calculate pH of a solution?

In order to calculate the pH of a solution you have to use the formula pH= -log [H+] or pH = -log [H3O+]

12. Tell me how can plutonium harm you?

You have to eat it in order to harm yourself with it. It is radioactive, naturally. Radioactive, but much less so than radium, for example, which is scattered again all over the earth's crust. So it's not a very frightening material.

13. Tell me what is buffer?

A buffer is an aqueous solution which has highly stable pH. It is a blend of a weak acid and its conjugate base or vice versa. On adding small amount of base or acid to buffer, its pH hardly changes.

14. What is closed system?

A system that exchanges only energy and not matter with the surrounding is said to be a closed system. For example: A reaction taking place in a closed metallic vessel.

15. Do you know what is Valency?

A valency is a property of a groups or atoms, equal to the number of atoms of hydrogen that the group or atom could combine with or displace it in forming compounds.

16. Tell me do you think most people trust the DOE nuclear physicists, the utilities?

No. Of course they don't. And that, I think, is somewhat understandable. But why the anti-nuclear folks, who say such extreme things that on the face of it one would question, even one who knew nothing about the subject, why they would have credibility, that does puzzle me.

17. Please explain why graphite rod is used in nuclear reactor?

Graphite rod is used in nuclear reactor to convert fast moving neutrons into thermal neutrons.

18. Tell us what is molality?

Molality is the number of solute that is present in 1 kg of a solvent.

19. Explain pauli Exclusion Principle?

This principle states that an orbital can have maximum two electrons and these must have opposite spins.

21. Tell us what is the monomer of polyethene?

The monomer of polyethene is ethylene

22. Explain me what is dextro-rotatory and levo-rotatory?

Levorotation and Dextrorotation is referred to the properties of plane polarized light, when light rotates clockwise when it approaches the observer is then known as dextro-rotation and when the light rotates anti-clockwise then it is referred as levo-rotation.

A compound which exhibits a dextro-rotation is referred as dextro-rotatory and which exhibits levo-rotation is referred as levo-rotatory.

23. Tell me what is a half-life of plutonium?

Well, plutonium-239 has, for example, a roughly 25,000-year half-life. That is to say, half of it will have decayed to something else after 25,000 years, approximately. And that's a good long time. And the other isotopes that are similar to that, some have longer half-lives, some of them shorter. The point is that they are the most toxic elements in the waste. And paradoxically, they are also the most useful, because they are all fissionable. So they can be used to produce energy. But if they are there in the waste, they represent a long-term hazard that people can legitimately be concerned about. And those states that are being asked to accept the nuclear waste can legitimately be concerned about that. You know, I think again it's a handle-able problem, but it's a problem that needn't be there, for if you recycle, you separate out exactly those elements and use them in your reactor. You produce energy with them and they're gone. And the nuclear waste that is then put in the ground has a life of perhaps a few hundred years, and all of the really toxic materials are gone. So it totally changes the character of the nuclear waste problem.

24. What is uranium, and where does it come from?

Uranium is simply a metal. It's found everywhere in the earth's surface. It's found at two parts per billion in the oceans. It's concentrated, like all the metals, in deposits here and there all over the earth. It looks something like lead. It's heavy like lead. It has a mild amount of radioactivity associated with it, but nothing like radium, for example, which is also scattered throughout the earth's crust.

25. Do you know what is the metal used to extract copper from the solution of copper sulphate?

Fe or ferrous is the metal that is used to extract copper from the solution of copper sulphate.

26. What is principal Quantum Number?

It is denoted by n. It tells us about the energy level or shell in which the electron is present. The value of n can be 1,2,3,4…….etc. but it cannot be zero. It gives us the information about the average distance of electrons from the nucleus, determines the energy of electron in hydrogen atom and hydrogen like atoms. It also gives us the information about the maximum number of electrons that a shell can have by using the formula 2n2.

27. Tell me what is range and specific ionisation of the emitted particles?

The radiations emitted by the radioactive nuclei are highly energetic and due to this the radiations can penetrate through the matter. The depth of these penetrations into the matter is proportional to the density of the matter. The distance covered by these radiations in the matter is called their range. The number of ion pairs per unit distance, the emitted particle covers in a medium is known as specific ionisation.

28. Explain me was Chernobyl a serious accident?

Chernobyl was the most serious accident, in my view, that a reactor could possibly have. It was a very large plant. It had been operating long enough that it had a large inventory of radioactive material and, it blew up. It was opened to the atmosphere for days. Fire, plumes of material, radioactive materials. The people who were asked to deal with the fire obviously had to be subjected to, in the crude way that the authorities responded to it, killing amounts of radiation. Some 30 or 40 of them did that, at an awful price. But contrary to the common knowledge that is simply not so. There have been very few, or in fact, only one identifiable source of deaths from that Chernobyl accident. And they are thyroids in children.

29. Tell me how is the isotopic form unsuitable for weapons?

Yes. Plutonium is different from uranium. Uranium has really those two isotopes. And let me call them by their names, uranium-235 and uranium-238. That's simply two different isotopes of the same metal. 235 is fissionable. Plutonium, when it's produced in a reactor, the first isotope you get is plutonium-239. That comes from the uranium-238. Almost immediately after that isotope will absorb another neutron and become plutonium-240. At least, some fraction of it will. And that is a highly unsatisfactory isotope to the weapons designer, because that gives off a lot of neutrons itself, and makes it very difficult to trigger any kind of an explosion effectively. But it goes right on. It goes to plutonium-241, to plutonium-242, and that whole mixture of isotopes of plutonium is exactly what the bomb designer does not want. He wants pure plutonium-239. That comes from reactors that are specially set up to produce the isotope plutonium-239, and not all of the mixture of isotopes that come out of the nuclear reactor.

30. Explain me what is oxidation and reduction reaction?

Oxidation = When there is a loss of hydrogen or electrons, OR gain of oxygen is known as Oxidation reaction.
Reduction = When there is a gain of hydrogen or electron OR loss of oxygen is known as reduction reaction
Example of oxidation-reduction reaction is observed in human body, when an electron is transferred into the cell and oxidation of glucose take place from which we get the energy.

31. Please explain what is the difference between fractionation and distillation?

Both methods are used to separate the components present in the solution based on the melting points

☛ Distillation : This technique is used when boiling point of chemicals are different in the mixtures
☛ Fractionation : This technique is used when boiling point of chemicals are close to each other in the mixtures

32. Explain heinsenberg's uncertainty principle?

This principle states that it is impossible to measure simultaneously the position and momentum of a small particle with absolute accuracy or certainty. If an attempt is made to measure any one of these two quantities with higher accuracy, then the other becomes less accurate. The product of uncertainty in the position and uncertainty in momentum is always constant and is equal to or greater than h/4p i.e.

Δx. Δp = h/4π

Where,

h is the Planks constant
Δx is the uncertainty in position
Δp is the uncertainty in momentum

33. Explain me radioactivity? Explain α, β and γ rays?

☛ a. The emission of radiation by uranium and its compound is an atomic phenomenon. It is independent of the chemical and physical state of the element. Such phenomenon is known as radioactivity and such elements are said to be radioactive.

☛ b. α rays: These rays consist of particles which are positively charged. If an a particle is emitted by the radioactive parent element then formation of the daughter element takes place which have atomic number less by 2 units and mass number less by 4 units.

☛ c. β rays: These rays consist of electrons. When the conversion of a neutron into proton takes place then an electron is ejected out, along with electron another particle is also ejected out which is known as anti-neutron. The mass of this anti-neutron in negligible. When a β ray is emitted by the parent element then the atomic number of the daughter is more by one unit than the parent element. However the mass number of both remains the same.

☛ d. γ rays: These rays are similar to electromagnetic radiation and possess very short wavelength. The daughter nucleus formed generally exists in the excited state. While returning to the ground state they generally emit its excess energy as γ-ray photon. Here the atomic number and the mass number of the daughter nucleus remains the same as of the parent nucleus.

34. Explain different rules used for filling of orbitals in atoms?

☛ a. Aufbau Principle: According to this principle, In the ground state of an atom the electrons are added one by one to the various orbitals in order of their increasing energy starting with the orbitals of lowest energy. The order of increasing energies of various orbitals can be calculated by the (n+1) rule. However if the (n+1) value of two different orbitals are same then the orbitals with lower value of n has lower energy.

☛ b. Pauli Exclusion Principle: This principle states that an orbital can have maximum two electrons and these must have opposite spins.

☛ c. Hund's rule of maximum multiplicity: Electron pairing in p, d and f orbitals cannot occur until each orbital of a given subshell contains one electron or is singly occupied. This happens because electrons being identical in charge repel each other when present at the same orbital.