When it comes to carbon, most people will think of coal. But few will remember what they studied in 10th standard, about the allotropes of carbon, namely Graphite, Diamond and Fullerenes. Let us discuss that in brief.
GRAPHITE: -
Graphite structure |
Lead of pencil is made up of graphite |
It is very soft and slippery. Oils cannot be used at high temperature. Therefore, it is used as a lubricant for machines at very high temperature. It is also used as fibres in plastic for great strength. Every layer of graphite has a gap of 340 picometers from each other. Each carbon has sp2 hybridisation.
DIAMOND: -
Structure of Diamond |
Every carbon atom is bonded to four other carbon atoms. Therefore, each carbon atom has sp3 hybridisation. The bond length is 154 pm. The formation enthalpy of the diamond is 1.9 kJ/mol.
FULLERENES: -
Structure of Fullerence |
It has 60 carbon atoms bonded in it. It has the shape of a soccer ball. The bond length of the single bond is 143.5 pm and that of the double bond is 138.3 pm. Its formation enthalpy is 38.1 kJ/mol. Therefore, it is not found in nature.
There are other forms of carbons like carbon black, coke, etc. But they are not allotropes as they have other components too.
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