• Question: what is an NMR?

    Asked by anon-184971 to Rebecca on 7 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Rebecca Roddan

      Rebecca Roddan answered on 7 Nov 2018:

      It’s a technique we use to work out the structure of a molecule. It does this by using a large magnet. Different atoms in your molecule will interact with the magnet differently and we use this property to work out what sort of environment each atom is in, then overall combine this for all the atoms in the molecule to work out the overall structure.

      It’s hard for me to explain – it’s something you’ll learn more about at A-Level :). If you are still confused or want to know more, ask another question and I’ll find a link to a website that explains it clearly (as you’ll need lots of diagrams!)

Comments

  • Photo: Adam

    Adam commented on :

    NMR stands for nuclear magnetic resonance, it involves using some of the fundamental properties of the nucleus, the very heart, of an atom. As Rebecca has pointed out generally it is used by chemists to look at the structure of molecules but it is a much more powerful technique and can be used to study all different kinds of materials, even large crystals of things that don’t form molecules. As Rebecca has said, you need a really large magnet and although it’s quite tiny in size, it’s very powerful – if the equipment wasn’t made safely, your keys would fling out of your hand and stick to the magnet from quite a distance away. The very large field interacts with different atoms in your sample differently and to make this technique work you need to apply a pulse of electromagentic radiation, or radio frequency. Since all the different atoms interact with each other differently, it is the radio frequency pulse that is able to show this and once you collect all your data you are able to pick out how different atoms interact and where they are in relation to each other. It’s a very interesting technique and is exploited in hospitals, but there it is known as MRI or magnetic resonance imaging.