In diamond, a group of five carbon atoms with one at the center is described by which term?

In diamond, a group of five carbon atoms with one at the center is described by which term?

• A. Grain lines
• B. Tetrahedron
• C. Habit
• D. Twinned crystal

Answer: (B)

Tetrahedral coordination describes a central atom bonded to four neighbors arranged at the corners of a regular tetrahedron. In diamond, each carbon forms four covalent bonds to surrounding carbons, with bond directions pointing to the corners of a tetrahedron, giving a three-dimensional network. If you picture one carbon at the center and its four bonded neighbors around it, that five-atom cluster takes on a tetrahedral shape. The other terms refer to different crystal features: grain lines are boundaries between crystal orientations, habit is the external crystal shape, and a twinned crystal involves mirrored crystal parts. So the five-atom group around a center in diamond is best described as a tetrahedron.

Tetrahedral coordination describes a central atom bonded to four neighbors arranged at the corners of a regular tetrahedron. In diamond, each carbon forms four covalent bonds to surrounding carbons, with bond directions pointing to the corners of a tetrahedron, giving a three-dimensional network. If you picture one carbon at the center and its four bonded neighbors around it, that five-atom cluster takes on a tetrahedral shape. The other terms refer to different crystal features: grain lines are boundaries between crystal orientations, habit is the external crystal shape, and a twinned crystal involves mirrored crystal parts. So the five-atom group around a center in diamond is best described as a tetrahedron.