There are a lot of metals and salts that are body-centered cubic, with their crystal structure based on right angles. Something I find interesting, probably because of my background in physical chemistry, is that hexagonal close packing like this can be represented as a cubic body cell with 90 degree angles: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_structure#Close_packing
and now I'm trying to figure out whether ionic bondage is hotter than covalent bondage. I guess it depends on how you think of the enthalpy of formation.
Hexagonal close packing. Nature is not using right angles in structures.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of metals and salts that are body-centered cubic, with their crystal structure based on right angles. Something I find interesting, probably because of my background in physical chemistry, is that hexagonal close packing like this can be represented as a cubic body cell with 90 degree angles: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_structure#Close_packing
ReplyDeleteCrystal bondage :))
ReplyDeleteand now I'm trying to figure out whether ionic bondage is hotter than covalent bondage. I guess it depends on how you think of the enthalpy of formation.
ReplyDeleteJohn Bump You noted the point: "cubic" is a way of naming and not the fundamental force pattern involved! Never is.
ReplyDeleteJust as: squares qua four edged structures do not exist ... and it is an unfortunate historical misnomer to refer to flattened tetrahedra as "square".
ReplyDelete