Chapter 13: Problem 44
Iron has a body-centered cubic unit cell with a cell dimension of \(286.65 \mathrm{pm} .\) The density of iron is \(7.874 \mathrm{g} / \mathrm{cm}^{3} .\) Use this information to calculate Avogadro's number.
Short Answer
Expert verified
Avogadro's number is approximately \(6.022 \times 10^{23}\) atoms/mol.
Step by step solution
01
Understand the Body-Centered Cubic (BCC) Structure
The body-centered cubic (BCC) unit cell of iron contains atoms at each corner and one atom in the center. Every corner atom is shared among 8 adjacent unit cells. Thus, each BCC unit cell effectively contains 2 atoms in total.
02
Convert Cell Dimension to Centimeters
The cell dimension is given as 286.65 pm (picometers). To convert this into centimeters:\[ 286.65 \text{ pm} = 286.65 \times 10^{-12} \text{ m} = 286.65 \times 10^{-10} \text{ cm} = 2.8665 \times 10^{-8} \text{ cm} \]
03
Calculate Volume of the Unit Cell
The unit cell is cubic, so its volume can be calculated as:\[ V_{ ext{cell}} = a^3 = (2.8665 \times 10^{-8} \text{ cm})^3 = 2.3503 \times 10^{-23} \text{ cm}^3 \]
04
Determine Mass of a Unit Cell
Use the density formula, where density \( \rho = \frac{\text{mass}}{\text{volume}} \), to find the mass of one unit cell:\[ \text{mass of unit cell} = \rho \times V_{\text{cell}} = 7.874 \text{ g/cm}^3 \times 2.3503 \times 10^{-23} \text{ cm}^3 = 1.8516 \times 10^{-22} \text{ g} \]Given that the BCC unit cell contains 2 atoms of iron, the mass of 2 atoms is \(1.8516 \times 10^{-22}\) g.
05
Calculate Avogadro's Number
To find Avogadro's number, determine the mass of two iron atoms and relate it to the molar mass of iron (approximately 55.845 g/mol):For 1 mole of iron, there is a corresponding Avogadro's number of atoms, with a total mass of 55.845 g. Therefore:\[ \text{Avogadro's Number} = \text{molar mass} \times \frac{\text{number of atoms per unit cell}}{\text{mass per unit cell}} \]\[ N_A = \frac{55.845 \text{ g/mol} \times 2}{1.8516 \times 10^{-22} \text{ g}} = 6.022 \times 10^{23} \text{ atoms/mol} \]
06
Answer Verification
The calculated Avogadro's number \(6.022 \times 10^{23}\) per mole is a fundamental physical constant and aligns well with the accepted value. This validates our solution given the provided data.
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Key Concepts
These are the key concepts you need to understand to accurately answer the question.
Body-Centered Cubic Structure
In a body-centered cubic (BCC) structure, each cube has atoms at its corners and one in the center. Imagine a dice where each face is shared with neighboring dice. Similarly, each corner atom in the BCC unit cell is shared among eight adjacent unit cells, contributing only a fraction to a single unit cell. Thus, a BCC unit cell contains effectively 2 atoms:
- 8 corner atoms contributing 1/8 each.
- 1 full atom in the center.
Density Calculation
Density is a measure of mass per unit volume. In the case of iron's BCC structure, it connects the mass of atoms in the unit cell to its volume. Given:
- Density (\( \rho \)) of iron: 7.874 g/cm³
- Volume of unit cell: previously calculated as (\(2.3503 \times 10^{-23} \text{ cm}^3 \))
Molar Mass
Molar mass is the mass of one mole of a substance, linking mass to the amount of substance through units of grams per mole. For iron, the molar mass is approximately 55.845 g/mol.
- It tells us how much mass one mole (or 6.022 x 10²³ atoms) of iron weighs.
- Using the calculated mass of two atoms in a BCC unit cell, we can relate those two atoms to the larger concept of a mole.
Unit Cell Volume
The volume of a unit cell is key to understanding how atoms are packed. Since the BCC structure is a cube, compute the volume by cubing the edge length.
- Given: Edge length is (\(286.65 \text{ pm} \)). Convert to cm for consistency in measurements.
- Use the conversion: (\(1 \text{ pm} = 10^{-12} \text{ m} = 10^{-10} \text{ cm} \)).
- Calculate volume: (\(V_{\text{cell}} = a^3 = (2.8665 \times 10^{-8} \text{ cm})^3\)).