Posts

Showing posts from 2012

Graphite can conduct electricity

Image
Graphite can conduct electricity due to the vast electron delocalization within the carbon layers. These valence electrons are free to move, so are able to conduct electricity.

If graphite can conduct electricity, why not diamond?

Image
As graphite is an  allotrope of carbon it conducts electricity as it has delocalized electrons. Unlike diamonds they don't have delocalized electrons. So the electrons in their shell become a covalent bond making no electrons free to move so there is no flow of electricity in Diamond.

How does graphite conduct electricity ?

Image
Graphite can conduct electricity due to the vast electron delocalization ( delocalized electrons are electrons in a molecule, ion or solid metal that are not associated with a single atom or one covalent bond)  within the carbon layers (a phenomenon called aromaticity ). These valence electrons are free to move, so are able to conduct electricity. However, the electricity is primarily conducted within the plane of the layers. The conductive properties of powdered graphite allowed its use as a semiconductor substitute in early carbon microphones.

What is Plasma ?

Image
In physics and chemistry, plasma is a state of matter similar to gas in which a certain portion of the particles are ionized. Heating a gas may ionize its molecules or atoms (reduce or increase the number of electrons in them), thus turning it into a plasma, which contains charged particles: positive ions and negative electrons or ions.Ionization can be induced by other means, such as strong electromagnetic field applied with a laser or microwave generator, and is accompanied by the dissociation of molecular bonds, if present.   This is primordial plasma created when an atom's electron collides and creates extreme heat higher than the sun about 250,000 times hotter than the sun. The atoms are collided by a machine called Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC).               

What is hydrophobic sand ?

Image
In chemistry, hydrophobicity   is the physical property of a molecule (known as a hydrophobe ) that is repelled from a mass of water. And so the hydrophobia is coated on the sand, then try pouring water on it. it would still be dry.