C 60 (buckyball) is cubic closest packed (face-centred cubic) in its crystalline form. If you insert potassium atoms into all the tetrahedral and octahedral holes of the C 60 structure, the formul

Question

C 60 ​ (buckyball) is cubic closest packed (face-centred cubic) in its crystalline form. If you insert potassium atoms into all the tetrahedral and octahedral holes of the C 60 ​ structure, the formula would become K X ​ C 60 ​ . What is the value of x ?

TestHub · Accepted Answer

The C₆₀ molecules form an FCC (ccp) lattice. In FCC, the number of tetrahedral voids is $2 N$ and octahedral voids is $N$ .

For 1 molecule of C₆₀, tetrahedral voids = 2 and octahedral voids = 1.

If potassium atoms occupy all these voids, the total number of K atoms is:

$2 + 1 = 3$

Therefore, the formula becomes:

K₃C₆₀

Answer: $x = 3$ (Option C)

Chemistry - Solid State Question with Solution | TestHub

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