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Question

What is a primitive unit cell?


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Solution

Unit cell

  • The unit cell, or building block of a crystal, is the smallest repeating unit in the crystal lattice.
  • It can be of different types: primitive cubic, body-centered cubic (BCC), or face-centered cubic unit cell.

Primitive Cubic Unit Cell

  • Only the corners of the primitive cubic unit cell have atoms, and each atom at the corner is shared by eight adjacent unit cells.
  • The simple cubic (SC) unit cell can be described as a cube with an atom on each corner.
  • Thus, each small sphere represents the center of a particle that occupies that particular position, not its size, and each unit cell has the only 1/8thpart of an atom.
  • The number of atoms will be 1.
What is a Unit Cell? - Definition, Types of Unit Cell, Primitive Unit Cell,  BCC & FCC, Volume of HCP Unit Cell

Example of simple cubic unit cell is Polonium metal.


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