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11.E: Chemical Bonding II: Additional Aspects (Exercises)

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    68459
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    11.7 Bonding in Metals

    Conceptual Problems
    1. Can band theory be applied to metals with two electrons in their valence s orbitals? with no electrons in their valence s orbitals? Why or why not?
    2. Given a sample of a metal with 1020 atoms, how does the width of the band arising from p orbital interactions compare with the width of the band arising from s orbital interactions? from d orbital interactions?
    3. Diamond has one of the lowest electrical conductivities known. Based on this fact, do you expect diamond to be colored? Why? How do you account for the fact that some diamonds are colored (such as “pink” diamond or “green” diamond)?
    4. Why do silver halides, used in the photographic industry, have band gaps typical of semiconducting materials, whereas alkali metal halides have very large band gaps?
    5. As the ionic character of a compound increases, does its band gap increase or decrease? Why?
    6. Why is silicon, rather than carbon or germanium, used in the semiconductor industry?
    7. Carbon is an insulator, and silicon and germanium are semiconductors. Explain the relationship between the valence electron configuration of each element and their band structures. Which will have the higher electrical conductivity at room temperature—silicon or germanium?
    8. How does doping affect the electrical conductivity of a semiconductor? Draw the effect of doping on the energy levels of the valence band and the conduction band for both an n-type and a p-type semiconductor.
    Answers
    1. The low electrical conductivity of diamond implies a very large band gap, corresponding to the energy of a photon of ultraviolet light rather than visible light. Consequently, diamond should be colorless. Pink or green diamonds contain small amounts of highly colored impurities that are responsible for their color.
    2. -
    3. As the ionic character of a compound increases, the band gap will also increase due to a decrease in orbital overlap. Remember that overlap is greatest for orbitals of the same energy, and that the difference in energy between orbitals on adjacent atoms increases as the difference in electronegativity between the atoms increases. Thus, large differences in electronegativity increase the ionic character, decrease the orbital overlap, and increase the band gap.
    Numerical Problems
    1. Of Ca, N, B, and Ge, which will convert pure silicon into a p-type semiconductor when doping? Explain your reasoning.
    2. Of Ga, Si, Br, and P, which will convert pure germanium into an n-type semiconductor when doping? Explain your reasoning.

    11.E: Chemical Bonding II: Additional Aspects (Exercises) is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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