Chem people- how do you differentiate between a "radical" and a "molecule"?
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Answer:
actually the definition given sounds pretty much confusing.
direct answer: NO.
if something changes or not, has nothing to do with being a radical or not. radicals are just species (atoms, molecules, even ions) which have a single, unpaired electron ( like NO, or O2). therefore they tend to be very reactive, and if u have a big chunk of a molecule with a ,say, carbon radical at one end, the most active part of this molecule will be this radical in question, so it will react first in any reaction, in so far, the rest of the molecule will remain indeed unchanged. so i guess that´s what these nerds from the dictionary actually mean.
but, again, the whole has nothing to do with the big chunk (changed or not) but with the single , unpaired electron at your carbon( i.e. carbon radical).
Hahah... what dictionary is that? "The dictionary says a radical is a group of atoms that acts as a single atom, and remains unchanged in a chemical reaction or is replaced by a single atom." It's not a good definition or provide you with a clear chemical concept of radical. And I can certainly say that a radical can changed in a chemical reaction by receiving a electron from another entity is change. It is a very reactive species.
I hope you are familiar the concept of outer valence shell configuration, in a radical, one of the 4 pairs of electrons (outer shell usually have 8, with 4 pairs) did not have a partner. This unpaired electron is very reactive and often a result of homolytic cleavage where a molecule, for example Cl2, splits into 2 without being an ion. A homolytic cleavage is fundamental to the formation of radical, where a bond between the atoms is equally split.
A molecule can be any combination of any elements in the periodic table, even a radical is considered a molecule. But a radical is only described for a molecule that have an unpaired electron in its usually full shell configuration and is not an ion(ie with the charge).
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