Atom Structures (Lattices and Alloys) Flashcards
What are Metals made out of (structure of the atom-wise)
Metals are made out of layers of atoms
Which elements is steel made of?
Steel is made of Iron mixed with other things
Why is steel much stronger than pure metals? (What arrangement of atoms)
Steel is much stronger than pure metals as it has a distorted structure
Why is diamond very hard?
Diamond is very hard as each carbon atom is held in place by strong covalent bonds.
These covalent bonds are in a very rigid giant molecular latticd
Why is Diamond’s melting point so high? (3550°c)
Diamond has a very high melting point as it is a Giant Covalent Lattice and lots of energy is needed to break the strong covalent bonds holding it together
What is a Giant Covalent Lattice?
A Giant Covalent Lattice is a atom structure that is very strong. It repeats over and over again and strong covalent bonds keep it together.
Usually Elements in this structure have a very high melting point
Why is graphite very soft?
Graphite is very soft as the carbon atoms are arranged in layers of hexagons. There are weak forces between each layer making them able to slide over each other easily
What is Graphite arranged in, similar to metals?
Graphite is arranged in layers of hexagons, layers of atoms. These layers can easily slide making it very weak.
Electrons can also move through the structure therefore it conducts electricity
What Compound has a very similar structure to diamond?
Silicon Dioxide (or sand) has a very similar structure to diamond
Each grain of sand is very hard as the covalent bonds between the atoms are hard to break
It also high as a high melting point because of this, making it s good material for lining furnaces
What is the difference between the structure of Diamond and Silicon Dioxide (sand)
Silicon Dioxide has white (or smaller) atoms inbetween the black (or larger atoms) atoms.
These smaller atoms are Oxygen atoms.
What do metals have that allow them to conduct electricity?
Metals have free ions which can act as charge carriers therefore they conduct electricity
