Skip to main content
Physics Guru is an online education and competitive examinations preparation portal founded by Manish Verma, an IIT Madras alumnus, providing learning resources for competitive examinations.

The emphasis is on conceptual understanding, analytical thinking and problem solving rather than simply memorising formulas and standard methods.

The objective is to help students understand what they are learning and develop the ability to solve problems they have not seen before.

In the cubic crystal of CsCl $(d = 3.97\,g/c{m^3})$ ...

In the cubic crystal of CsCl (d=3.97 g/cm3) the eight corners are occupied by Cl- with a Cs+ at the centre and vice-versa. Assuming anion-anion contact, calculate the distance between the neighbouring Cs+ and Cl- ions. What is the radius ratio of the two ions? [At. Wt. of Cs = 132.91 and that of Cl = 35.45]

Solution

${\rm{Density}} = \frac{{{\rm{n}} \times {\rm{molecular\,weight}}}}{{{{\rm{a}}^{\rm{3}}} \times {{\rm{N}}_{\rm{a}}}}}$
$ \Rightarrow 3.97 = \frac{{1 \times 168.36}}{{{a^3} \times 6.023 \times {{10}^{23}}}}$
$ \Rightarrow a = 4.13\mathop A\limits^ \circ $
Density of cube $ = a\sqrt 3  = 7.15\mathop A\limits^ \circ  $
For b.c.c., ${\rm{2}}{{\rm{r}}^ + } + 2{r^ - } = 7.15$
$ \Rightarrow {r^ + } + {r^ - } = 3.75\mathop A\limits^ \circ  ..........*$
Also, $2{r^ - } = 4.13\mathop A\limits^ \circ  {\rm{ }}..........**$
$ \Rightarrow {r^ - } = 2.06\mathop A\limits^ \circ  $
${r^ + } = 3.57 - 2.06 = 1.51\mathop A\limits^ \circ  $
$\frac{{{r^ + }}}{{{r^ - }}} = \frac{{1.51}}{{2.06}} = 0.73$


* Distance between the neighbouring Cs+ and Cl- ions = r+ + r-
** Due to anion-anion contact