2.6.2

Giant Covalent Structures - Diamond

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Diamond

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

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Covalent bonds

  • Each 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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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 not conduct electricity

  • Diamond does not conduct electricity because there are no delocalised electrons in the diamond structure.
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High melting point

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

Jump to other topics

1States of Matter

2Atoms, Elements & Compounds

3Stoichometry

4Electrochemistry

5Chemical Energetics

6Chemical Reactions

7Acids, Bases & Salts

8The Periodic Table

9Metals

10Chemistry of the Environment

11Organic Chemistry

11.1Formulae, Functional Groups & Terminology

11.2Naming Organic Compounds

11.3Fuels

11.4Alkanes

11.5Alkenes

11.6Alcohols

11.7Carboxylic Acids

11.8Polymers

12Experimental Techniques & Chemical Analysis

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