Suppose the unit cell of a crystalline ionic compound consists of a cube with ions of element X at each corner and ions of element Y at the centre of each face. What is the empirical (simplest) formula of this compound?
a. XY4
b. X3Y
c. X3Y4
d. XY3
e. X4Y
f. X4Y3
g. X2Y3
I'm not really sure how to approach this problem... I know there's 8 atoms of X and 6 atoms of Y but does that determine my ratio?
2007-11-24 11:12:06 · 2 answers · asked by ¿ /\/ 馬 ? 7 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Chemistry
Based on the 2nd response, I would get XY3...
2007-11-24 11:35:34 · update #1
Okay, so yes Go X *1/8 and get x/8 and go y*1/2 and get y/2. ( I think you picked wrong ratios.) This leaves you with X/8 and Y/2 If you multiply both through by 8, you get empirically, X and 4Y.
Answer:
a. XY4
My answer is based on my textbooks way.
2007-11-24 11:18:54 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
One way to figure this is to imagine how much of each atom is inside the unit cell. The face center atoms are only one half inside the unit cell. Since you have 6 face center atoms and half of each atom is inside the unit cell, then you have 3 total Y atoms. You have to figure out how much of each corner atom is inside the cell. good luck
2007-11-24 19:21:17 · answer #2 · answered by Gary H 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋