Allotropes of carbon Flashcards
What does allotrope mean?
A word for the different forms of the same element.
What are the allotropes of carbon?
Diamond, graphite, fullerenes
What is the structure of diamond like?
Each carbon atom is covalently bonded for others. It uses all the electrons in Carbon’s outer shell and allows carbon to get a full outer shell. The covalent bonds are very strong and in diamond there are hundreds of thousands of them they require a huge amount of energy to break the bonds and therefore diamond is one of the hardest substances known and has a melting point in excess of 3500°
What are the properties of diamond?
Colourless Using cutting tools Hard Lustrous Does not conduct electricity Insoluble in water Using jewellery High melting point
What is the structure of graphite like?
Each Carbon atom is bonded to 3 others forming layers and it has one free electrons. The spare electron becomes D localised and is allowed to move around the structure it is also found between layers. There are intermolecular bonds between layers these are not as strong as covalent bonds
What are the properties of graphite?
Black Soft Slippery OPEC Used as electrics Used as lubricants Used as pencil lead
Why aren’t fullerenes giant structures?
Because they don’t have enough atoms
What are fullerenes made up of?
They are made up of different numbers of atoms. They exist as cage like or tubular forms.
What are fullerenes used as?
Lubricants,drug delivery, in tubular forms to reinforce materials.
