SOLID STATE

ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

1. Define unit cell.
The smallest group of atoms or molecules whose repitation at regular intervals in three
dimensional lattice of crystal is called unit cell.

2. Give any three characteristics of ionic crystals.

 Ionic solids have high melting points.
 These solids do not conduct electricity, because the ions are fixed in their lattice
positions.
 They do conduct electricity in molten state (or) when dissolved in water because, the
ions are free to move in the molten state or solution.

3. Differentiate crystalline solids and amorphous solids.

S.NO Crystalline solids Amorphous solids.
1. Long range orderly arrangement Short range, random arrangement of
of constituents.
constituents.
2. Definite shape Irregular shape
3. They are anisotropic in nature They are isotropic like liquids
4. They have sharp melting points. They soften over a range of
temperature
5. Definite heat of fusion Heat fusion is not definite
6. Ex. NaCl, Diamond Ex. Glass, Rubber, Plastic
5. Explain briefly seven types of unit cell.
 A unit cell is characterised by the three edge lengths or lattice constants a ,b and c
and the angle between the edges α, β and γ.
 There are seven primitive crystal systems; cubic, tetragonal, orthorhombic,
hexagonal, monoclinic, triclinic and rhombohedral.
 They differ in the arrangement of their crystallographic axes and angles.
S.NO Crystal class Axial Axial angles Possible Examples
distance Types
1. Cubic abc α  β  γ  90 o
Primitive, NaCl
fcc, bcc
2. Tetragonal abc α  β  γ  90 o
Primitive,bcc SnO2
3. Orthorhombic abc α  β  γ  90 o
Primitive, BaSO4
fcc, bcc, end
centered
4. Hexagonal abc α  β  90 ; γ
o
Primitive ZnO
120 o

5. Rhombohedral abc α  β  γ  90o Primitive HgS

6. Monoclinic abc α  γ  90 ; β
o
Primitive, Monoclinic
90 o
end centered Sulphur
7. Triclinic abc α  β γ  90 o
Primitive H3BO3
6. Distinguish between hexagonal close packing and cubic close packing.
S.No Hexagonal close packing Cubic close packing.
1. Tetrahedral voids of a second layer are Octahedral voids of a second layer are
covered by the spheres of the third covered by the spheres of the third layer.
layer.
2. The Spheres of the third layer are The Spheres of the third layer are not
exactly aligned with those of first layer. aligned with those of first layer(a) or
second layer (b)
3. The pattern is repeated in alternate The stacking layers is continued as ABC
layers as ABA arrangement ABC arrangement.
4. This type of packing is known as hcp This type of packing is known as ccp
arrangement arrangement
5. The coordination number of each The coordination number of each sphere
sphere is 12 – six is 12 – six
neighbouring spheres in its own layer, neighbouring spheres in its own layer,
three spheres in the layer above and three spheres in the layer above and
below. below.
7. Distinguish tetrahedral and octahedral voids.
Tetrahedral voids Octahedral voids
It is a vacant space among four It is avoid formed by 2 equilateral
spheres having tetrahedral triangles with apices in opposite
arrangement directions
There are 2 tetrahedral sites for each There is only 1 octahedral site for each
sphere sphere
8. What are point defects?
Point defects are the irregularities or deviations from ideal arrangement around a point or
an atom in a crystalline substance Point defects can be classified into three types :
(1) stoichiometric defects (2) impurity defects (3) non–stoichiometric defects

9. Explain Schottky defect.

 Schottky defect occurs when oppositely charged atoms (cation and anion) leave their
corresponding lattice sites and create a pair of Vacancy Defects.
 Since both cation and anion leave the lattice sites at the same time, so overall
electrical neutrality of the crystal is maintained.
 Schottky defects occur in ionic crystals where the size of anion is almost same with
the size of the cation. The atoms permanently leave the crystal.
 One Schottky defect leads to the formation of two vacancies.
 Two atoms reduce from the crystal for each Schottky defect.
 Due to vacancy formation, Schottky defect reduces density of the solid.
 In NaCl there are approximately 106 Schottky pairs per cm3 at room temperature.
In 1 cm3 there are about 1022 Thus, there is one Schottky defect per 1016 ions.
 For example, NaCl, KCl, CsCl and AgBr.
10. Write short note on metal excess and metal deficiency defect with an example.
Metal excess defect:
 Metal excess defect due to anionic vacancies.
 This type of defect is exhibited by alkali halides like NaCl and KCl.
 Application of heat to NaCl in an atmosphere of sodium vapour results in
deposition of the sodium atoms on the surface of the crystal.
 The sodium atoms lose electron to form Na+
 The Cl– ions diffuse to the surface of the crystal and combine with Na atoms to give
NaCl.
 The released electrons diffuse into the crystal and occupy anionic sites.
 The anionic sites occupied by unpaired electrons are called F-centres that imparts
yellow colour to the crystals of NaCl due to the excitation of the electrons on
absorption of energy from the visible light falling on the crystals.
 Metal excess defect due to the presence of extra cations at interstitial sites.
 Heating Zinc oxide that exists in white colour at room temperature loses oxygen
and turns yellow.

 This results in excess of zinc in the crystal and its formula becomes Zn1+xO.
 The excess Zn2+ ions move to interstitial sites and the electrons to neighbouring
interstitial sites.
Metal deficiency defect:
 Many solids possess less amount of the metal as compared to the stoichiometric
proportion.
 For example, FeO is mostly found with a composition ranging from Fe 93O to
Fe 0.96O.
2+
 In crystals of FeO some Fe cations are missing and the loss of positive charge is
made up by the presence of required number of Fe3+

11. Explain AAAA and ABABA and ABCABC type of three dimensional packing with the
help of neat diagram.
AAAA type:
 This can be obtained by repeating the AAAA type two dimensional arrangements in
three dimensions.
 Spheres in one layer sitting directly on the top of those in the previous layer so that
all layers are identical.
 All spheres of different layers of crystal are perfectly aligned horizontally and also
vertically.
 This is known as simple cubic arrangement
 In simple cubic packing, each sphere is in contact with 6 neighbouring spheres.
 Four in its own layer, one above and one below.
 The coordination number of the sphere in simple cubic arrangement is 6.
ABABA type:
 In this arrangement, the spheres in the first layer ( A type ) are slightly separated
and the second layer is formed by arranging the spheres in the depressions between
the spheres in layer A.
 The third layer is a repeat of the first. This pattern ABABAB is repeated throughout
the crystal.
 In this arrangement, each sphere has a coordination number of 8, four neighbors in
the layer above and four in the layer below.
 This is body centered cubic arrangement
ABC ABC type:
 The third layer may be placed above the second layer in a manner such that its
spheres cover the octahedral voids.
 When placed in this manner, the spheres of the third layer are not aligned with
those of either the first or the second layer. This arrangement is called “C’
 Only when fourth layer is placed, its spheres are aligned with those of the first
layer.
 This pattern of layers is often written as ABCABC...........
 This structure is called cubic close packed (ccp) or face-centered cubic (fcc)
structure.
 Each sphere is in contact with twelve spheres.
 The coordination number is 12.

12. Why ionic crystals are hard and brittle?

The ionic compounds are very hard and brittle. In ionic compounds the ions are rigidly
held in a lattice because the positive and negative ions are strongly attracted to each other
and difficult to separate.

13. What is the two dimensional coordination number of a molecule in square close
packed layer?
The second row can be placed in contact with the first row in such a way that the spheres
of second row are exactly above the first row.
 The spheres of the two rows are aligned horizontally as well as vertically.
 Let the first row be ‘A’ type row and the second row is also of ‘A’ type due to its
similarity with the first one.
 Similarly, we may place more rows to obtain AAA type of arrangement.
 Each sphere is in contact with four of its surrounding atom. Thus, the two
dimensional coordination numbers is 4.
 If the centers of these 4 immediate surrounding spheres are joined, a square is formed.
Due to which this packing is known as square close packing in two dimension
14.What is meant by the term “coordination number”? What is the coordination number
of atoms in a bcc structure?
Coordination number: - it is the total number of surrounding atoms of any constituent
particle present in the crystal lattice.
The coordination number of atoms in a body-centred cubic structure is 8.