Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar

Condensed Matter Physics (PH 510), 2017

Assignment-1
16/08/2017
Rupak Banerjee

1. Calculate and show in tabular form the characteristics of the different

cubic lattices (simple cubic, BCC and FCC) which includes a) volume
of the conventional cell b) volume of a unit cell c) lattice points per unit
cell d) number of nearest neighbors and e) nearest neighbor distances
[2.5 marks].

2. Prove that for an ideal hexagonal close-packed structure c = 1.633a

where a is the length of side of the hexagonal base plane, and c is the
height [3 marks].

3. Suppose identical solid spheres are distributed through space in such

a way that their centers lie on the points of the structures mentioned
below, and spheres of neighboring points just touch each other with-
out overlapping (close packing arrangement), show that the “packing
fraction” (ratio of the actual volume of the spheres to the volume of
the unit cell describing it) is [2.5 marks]:
face centered cubic: 0.74
hexagonal close-packed: 0.74
body centered cubic: 0.68
simple cubic: 0.52
diamond: 0.34

4. Find the angles between the body diagonal of a cube. Hint: refer to
diagram on the primitive translation vectors of BCC lattice [2 mark].