Describe what type of structure a diamond has

Graphite also has a lower density 2. The planar structure of graphite allows electrons to move easily within the planes. This permits graphite to conduct electricity and heat as well as absorb light and, unlike diamond, appear black in color. Already a subscriber? Sign in. Thanks for reading Scientific American. Create your free account or Sign in to continue.

See Subscription Options. Go Paperless with Digital. Miriam Rossi, a professor of chemistry at Vassar College, provides the following explanation: Both diamond and graphite are made entirely out of carbon, as is the more recently discovered buckminsterfullerene a discrete soccer-ball-shaped molecule containing carbon 60 atoms.

Answer originally posted May 20, Get smart. This makes graphite slippery, so it is useful as a lubricant. Explain why diamond does not conduct electricity and why graphite does conduct electricity. Diamond does not conduct electricity because it has no charged particles that are free to move. Graphite does conduct electricity because it has delocalised electrons which move between the layers. Diamond and graphite Diamond and graphite are different forms of the element carbon.

The delocalised electrons are free to move through the structure, so graphite can conduct electricity. This makes graphite useful for electrodes in batteries and for electrolysis. The layers in graphite can slide over each other because the forces between them are weak.

This makes graphite slippery, so it is useful as a lubricant. The allotropes of carbon have been covered in sufficient detail in Chapter 8. Skip this long section! Ionic carbides are formed by elements of groups 1, 2 and aluminum. The actual for of the carbon varies, for example, aluminum carbide, based on its hydrolysis product seems to contain "C 4- " units:.

Interstitial carbides are compounds of the transition metals with metallic properties and the C in tetrahedral holes in the metal atom lattice. The best known example is the extrememly hard tungsten carbide, WC, used in cutting tools. Covalent carbides include B 4 C 3 and SiC carborundum - an abrasive with a diamondlike structure. Diamond Carbon has an electronic arrangement of 2,4.

How to draw the structure of diamond Don't try to be too clever by trying to draw too much of the structure! Do it in the following stages: Practice until you can do a reasonable free-hand sketch in about 30 seconds. Very strong carbon-carbon covalent bonds have to be broken throughout the structure before melting occurs. This is again due to the need to break very strong covalent bonds operating in 3-dimensions. All the electrons are held tightly between the atoms, and aren't free to move.

There are no possible attractions which could occur between solvent molecules and carbon atoms which could outweigh the attractions between the covalently bound carbon atoms. Graphite Graphite has a layer structure which is quite difficult to draw convincingly in three dimensions.

The Bonding in Graphite Each carbon atom uses three of its electrons to form simple bonds to its three close neighbors. Silicon dioxide: SiO 2 Silicon dioxide is also known as silica or silicon IV oxide has three different crystal forms. Contributors Jim Clark Chemguide. Introduction There are more compounds of carbon than of any other element except hydrogen.