Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-a-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2013/paper-2/section-a/4/solution
Past exam of the physics A course of the University of Cambridge 2013 Paper 2 Section A 4 Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-20
For conventional cubic cell side , the face-centered cubic lattice has corner and face-centre sites, giving four lattice points per cell; the body-centered cubic lattice has corners and a body centre, giving two. Their primitive unit cells each contain one lattice point. With reciprocal vectors written , face-centered cubic lattice allows all even or all odd, while body-centred cubic allows even. HenceHere is the side of the reciprocal lattice's conventional cubic cell. The parity conditions describe the reciprocal point sets; reciprocal space contains wavevectors, not a second arrangement of physical atoms.
New to topics? Read the docs here!