Question

Why does Diamond doesn't conduct electricity but Graphite does?

Answer 1

Conduction of electricity mainly depends upon presence of free electrons.

• In graphite, each carbon atom is directly linked to only three carbon atoms through covalent bonds. Therefore, out of the four valence electrons in a carbon atom only three are used for bonding and the fourth is relatively free and can move from one carbon atom to other. This results in the conductivity of graphite.
• In diamond, every carbon atom shares four of its available electrons with other carbon atoms, forming a tetrahedral network. Therefore diamond does not have any free electron to conduct electricity. So diamond is insulator.