Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-materials-science-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2017/paper-1/1/a/solution
Past exam of the materials science course of the University of Cambridge 2017 Paper 1 1 a Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-20
The fluorite structure consists of a face-centered cubic lattice of calcium sites with all eight tetrahedral interstitial sites occupied by fluoride. In fractional coordinates of the conventional cubic unit cell, the calcium basis is , and fluoride occupies all combinations with . The projection therefore superposes two fluoride sites at each quarter-coordinate position. Labels in the original diagram give fractional depth along ; periodic boundary sites are displayed on both edges.
Original fluorite projection along the cubic z axis with fractional depths and the limiting anion-contact geometry
. Details. Counting shared sites gives calcium sites and eight interior fluoride sites: four formula units per conventional cell.
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