JEE MainChemistrySolid State
A cubic crystalline solid consists of elements A and B. Atoms of A occupy all the corners of the cubic unit cell, while atoms of B occupy the face centers. However, some B atoms are missing from their designated face center sites. If the empirical formula of the compound is AB _ 2.5 , the number of missing B atoms per unit cell is
Options
- A5
- B2
- C1
- D3
Correct answer
C. 1
Step-by-step solution
The effective number of A atoms per unit cell is calculated from the atoms at the corners. Number of A atoms = 8 1 8 = 1 Since the empirical formula is AB _ 2.5 and the number of A atoms is 1, the effective number of B atoms per unit cell must be 2.5. Let the number of occupied face centers be x . The contribution of an atom at a face center is 1 2 . x 1 2 = 2.5 x = 5 A cubic unit cell has 6 face centers in total. Therefore, the number of missing B atoms is 6 - 5 = 1 . Answer: 1