Radical Life Span

[Blake Ballew 1H]

How long to radicals live on average seeing as they are not stable? When and why do they even arise?

Thanks!

[Nika Gladkov 1A]

I'm not sure about all radicals, but I know that one way that radicals can form is by interacting with UV light. Molecules similar to CF2Cl2 rise into the atmosphere and interact with UV light, which causes a bond between a carbon and a chlorine to be broken, forming a Cl radical and a CF2Cl radical. These radicals react with ozone to break it into O2. During this chemical reaction, they are regenerated and can continue to break down ozone. In this case, the radicals are relatively stable and can last for a long time if they are not exposed to another radical which they could combine with.

Hope this helps!

[Jay Solanki 3A]

As mentioned in Dr. Lavelle's lecture, the methyl radical also exists when methane is burned. This radical is somewhat stable but does not last long. Each radical varies in terms of stability, but the primary idea to understand about them is that they are extremely reactive. The extra electron necessitates the need to combine with other radicals to achieve a more stable state, so they are very reactive in terms of maintaining a state that is more stable than a radical. I hope this makes sense!

[Eileen Quach Dis 2A]

We don't need to know exactly how long they last. We just need to know that they're unstable and highly reactive. They arise because covalent bonds are broken apart, which leaves each atom that was bonded with one electron, and I believe that this occurs in a lot of metabolic processes in the body.

[Eunice_Castro_1G]

Hello! Radicals do not last very long, because they are highly reactive. Radicals arise when a photon breaks a bond and leaves a molecule with an odd number of electrons. Hope this helps!