120. In a 1999 study of cobalt nanocrystals, D. P. Dinega and M. G. Bawendi discovered that cobalt
forms an interesting cubic structure unlike any of the cubic structures described in this chapter.
They called this new form
-cobalt to distinguish it from the more commonly encountered
hcp and fcc forms of cobalt. For
–cobalt, the unit cell has an edge length of 609.7 pm and
contains 20 atoms. The density of
-cobalt is
g cm–3. Use these data to estimate
the number of cobalt atoms in a spherical nanocrystal of
-cobalt if the diameter of the
nanocrystal is 2 nm.
Feature Problems
121. Intermolecular forces play vital and varied roles in nature. For example, these forces enable
gecko lizards to climb walls and hang upside down from ceilings, seemingly defying gravity.
Intermolecular forces—more specifically, hydrogen bonds—are the reason that DNA
molecules, carriers of the genetic code for most living organisms, exist as a double helix. The
helical structure of proteins, the molecules that catalyze biochemical reactions occurring in
our bodies and regulate metabolic processes, is also the result of hydrogen bonding. In
Section 12-1, we learned about the physical basis of different types of intermolecular forces,
such as dipole–dipole, dipole–induced dipole, and instantaneous dipole–induced dipole
(dispersion) interactions. We also discussed the relative strengths of these different types of
interactions and the percent contributions they make to the attraction between molecules.
This problem focuses on doing calculations to verify the claims made in Section 12-1.
For two identical molecules separated from each other by a distance much greater than their
own dimensions, the average potential energy of interaction, E, is approximately
( ) ( )
422
i
2
6
B0
0
1 2 1 1 3
2
3 4 4
4
EE
r k T
= − + +
In the equation above,
is the molecular dipole moment in C m,
is the molecular
polarizability in m3, Ei is the first ionization energy of the molecule in J, and r is the center of
mass separation in m between the two molecules. In addition,
12 2 1 1
08 854 10 C J m
− − −
=
is
the permittivity of vacuum,
23 1
B1 3807 10 J Kk−−
=
is the Boltzmann constant, and T is the
temperature in K. The first term in the equation above represents the dipole–dipole
interaction, the second term represents the dipole–induced dipole interaction, and the third
term represents the dispersion interaction.
Use the equation above and data from the table that follows to answer the questions below.
Assume the center of mass separation, r, between molecules is exactly 400 pm and the
temperature is 298 K.