Palladium crystallizes in a face-centered cubic unit cell.If the edge length of the unit cell is 387 pm,what is the radius of a palladium atom in picometers?
A) 137 pm
B) 548 pm
C) 1100 pm
D) 316 pm
E) 48.4 pm

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

In a face-centered cubic (fcc) unit cell, the diagonal across the face of the cube is equal to four times the radius of the atom (4r), and it also equals the square root of 2 times the edge length (a√2). Therefore, 4r = a√2. Given that the edge length (a) is 387 pm, we can solve for r: r = (387 pm * √2) / 4 = 137 pm.

Palladium Crystallizes in a Face-Centered Cubic Unit Cell