Uncertain by Nature: Quantum Mechanics and Nuclear Chemistry

ID : 3159

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What does it mean for a particle to be in two places at once, and why should a chemist care? This course will explore two of the most counterintuitive and consequential ideas in modern science: quantum mechanics and nuclear chemistry. We will examine wave-particle duality, wavefunctions, Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, and Schrödinger’s famous cat — not as abstract puzzles but as the foundation of how atoms actually behave. We will then turn to the nucleus itself: fission, fusion, radioactive decay, carbon dating, and the long shadow of the Manhattan Project. From Hiroshima to Chernobyl to today’s energy debates, nuclear science has never been just science.

John Hendrickson, PhD is a teaching professor in the School of Molecular Sciences at Arizona State University. He holds a PhD in chemistry and is the author of the textbook Chemistry in the World. His academic work focuses on science communication, the reciprocal relationship between science and society.
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