2.3.6

Carbon Structures - Diamond & Graphite

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Diamond

Diamond is an allotrope (form) of carbon. Diamond has the following properties:

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Covalent bonds

  • Every carbon atom in diamond is bonded to 4 other carbon atoms by strong covalent bonds.
  • This creates a giant covalent structure.
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Is diamond hard?

  • There are lots of strong covalent bonds in diamond. This makes it very hard.
  • Because diamond is hard, it is used as a cutting tool to cut other materials.
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Does diamond conduct electricity?

  • Diamond is NOT an electrical conductor because there are no delocalised electrons in the diamond structure.
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What is diamond's melting point?

  • A lot of energy is needed to break strong covalent bonds.
  • Diamond has lots of strong covalent bonds. This means that diamond has a high melting point.

Graphite

Graphite is an allotrope (form) of carbon. Graphite has the following properties:

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Covalent bonds

  • Every carbon atom in graphite is bonded to 3 other carbon atoms by strong covalent bonds.
  • This creates a giant covalent structure.
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Graphite is soft

  • The carbon atoms form layers of hexagonal (6-sided) rings, with weak intermolecular forces keeping the layers together.
  • The layers can easily slide over one another, so graphite is very soft.
    • This makes graphite useful as a lubricant and as pencil ‘lead’.
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Graphite conducts electricity

  • Each carbon atom forms 3 bonds.
  • This means that there is 1 delocalised electron from every carbon atom.
  • This electron can move freely, so graphite is a good electrical conductor.

Jump to other topics

1Atomic Structure

2Chemical Bonding

3Quantitative Chemistry

4Chemical Changes

5Energy Changes

6The Rate & Extent of Chemical Change

7Organic Chemistry

8Chemical Analysis

9Chemistry of the Atmosphere

10Using Resources

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