FCC chemistry question, In an ionic compound such as NACL which consist of a face lattice of chloride ions eac

Question

each sodium ion has how many chloride ion surrounding it as nearest neighbors? the answer is 6 but can you explain step by step why?

Answer 1

yes, the cubic lattice unit cell has a sodium in the middle of each alternative edge and then has a chlorine in the middle of each face. this give the 6 chlorines surrounding each sodium ion and visa versa.

the crystal structure on the wikipedia page explans the point perfectly. Just remember that there are other unit cells surrounding that one.

Answer 2

its tough with out drawing it but i will do my best.

NaCl forms a hexagonal lattice, basicly meaning that the atoms form sheets each consisting of a large number of hexagons (kind of like the thing they had on blockbuster, if you remember that show) each hexagon contains three Na atoms and 3 Cl atoms but any atoms closest neighbor is not the same as it.

if you imagine these layers of hexagons one on top of the other in such a way that they are slightly offset so that an atom in the upper layer is directly over a hole in the centre of a lower hexagon then you can see that all of any atoms neighbours are then other atom and there are 6 of them.

Im sorry that it may not come out very well in writing, it is much easier to see if drawn out, so see if you can do it that way

Answer 3

Actually

on wikipedia