Question

Gold crystallizes in a face-centered cubic structure. What is the edge length of the unit cell if the atomic radius of gold is 144 pm?

407 pm
333 pm
204 pm
288 pm

Answer 1

407 pm

Step-by-step explanation:

For any elemental face-centered cubic structure, the relationship between the edge length of the unit cell and the atomic radius of its element is:

• √2 * L = 4r

Where L is the edge length and r is the atomic radius.

With that in mind we can calculate the edge length:

• √2 * L = 4 * 144 pm

• L = 407 pm