Solid State Structures

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Total cards: 24•Content version: v4•Public deck•Updated: 8/1/2026

Card preview (24)

Front (Question)

which combination of cation/anion gives highest degree of polarisation/high covalent character?

Back (Answer)

small highly charged cations and large polarisable anions

Front (Question)

large covalent character + Born-Landé equation

Back (Answer)

underestimates lattice energy (actual value obtained from a Born-Haber cycle = higher)

Front (Question)

drawback of Madelung constant + interionic distance (r)

Back (Answer)

requires detailed knowledge of structure which may not be available

Front (Question)

value of ‘k’ in Kapustinskii equation

Back (Answer)

107 900 pm kJ mol-1

Front (Question)

predicting bond types - greater electronegativity

Back (Answer)

greater ionic character

Front (Question)

predicting bond types - high electronegativity values

Back (Answer)

tends to be covalent

Front (Question)

predicting bond types - low electronegativities

Back (Answer)

substance with be an alloy with metallic bonding

Front (Question)

iodine

Back (Answer)

strong covalent bonds between atoms weak intermolecular interactions low mp/bp sublimes with mild heating at atmospheric pressure

Front (Question)

silicon

Back (Answer)

covalent network each atom forms 4 covalent bonds

#10

Front (Question)

covalent network structures

Back (Answer)

infinite atoms linked by covalent bonds examples = boron, phosphorus + boron nitride

#11

Front (Question)

allotropy

Back (Answer)

elements that can form more than 1 structure e.g. carbon (diamond, graphite, Buckminsterfullerene)

#12

Front (Question)

allotropes of tin

Back (Answer)

β tin (= white) - stable at rtp, metallic α tin (= grey) - stable below 13°C, non-metallic

#13

Front (Question)

polymorphism

Back (Answer)

compounds that can also form more than 1 structure e.g. quartz and β-cristobalite = polymorphs of SiO2

#14

Front (Question)

unit cell

Back (Answer)

smallest possible repeating unit for a structure

#15

Front (Question)

unit cell - vertex

Back (Answer)

1/8

#16

Front (Question)

unit cell - edge

Back (Answer)

1/4

#17

Front (Question)

unit cell - face

Back (Answer)

1/2

#18

Front (Question)

unit cell - body

Back (Answer)

#19

Front (Question)

cell projection diagrams - 0 and 1 meaning

Back (Answer)

0 = bottom of cell 1 = top of cell

#20

Front (Question)

interstitial sites

Back (Answer)

free space between spheres

#21

Front (Question)

how many octahedral sites are there in cubic-close packing?

Back (Answer)

#22

Front (Question)

how many tetrahedral sites are there in cubic-close packing?

Back (Answer)

#23

Front (Question)

what is an alloy?

Back (Answer)

contains 2 or more metals or metal + non-metal

#24

Front (Question)

why are alloys more commonly used than pure metals?

Back (Answer)

stronger - different sized atoms ∴ slide less easily less susceptible to corrosion