Consider that the coordinating atoms of the ligands in cis -[Co(NH₃ )₄ Cl₂ ]Cl and mer -[Co(NH₃ )₃ Cl₃ ] octahedral complexes are at the vertices of an octahedron. The sum of total number of the triangular faces in both the complexes having one N atom and two Cl atoms at their corners is ____.

Step-by-step solution

In an octahedral complex, the six coordinating atoms are located at the vertices of an octahedron, which has 8 triangular faces. Each face is formed by 3 vertices, and any two adjacent (cis) vertices form an edge that is shared by exactly two faces. For the cis -[Co(NH₃ )₄ Cl₂ ] ^+ complex: The two Cl atoms are at adjacent (cis) positions, forming exactly one Cl-Cl edge. This edge is shared by two triangular faces. Since the remaining four vertices are occupied by N atoms, the third vertex of each of these two face