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Solid State Physics // Common Crystal Structures

Body Centered Cubic (bcc)

1. Conventional Unit Cell

2. Packing Density Solid State Physics
3. Coordination Number

Introduction
Besides the simple cubic (sc) and the face centered cubic (fcc)
la ces there is another cubic Bravais lattice called body Overview
centered and
Classification
cubic (bcc) la ce. Unlike the simple cubic la ce it has an
additional lattice point located in the center of the cube.[1]
Simplifying
Assumptions
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Atomic
Fig. 1 - 3D-view of the bcc-structure: Conven onal unit cell, Orbitals
primitive unit cell and Wigner-Seitz cell.
Electron Configuration
of Many-Electron
Atoms
1. Conventional Unit Cell
Interactions due to
Orbital Overlap
For the conven onal unit cell a cubic one is chosen because it
represents the symmetry of the underlying structure best. As
Crystal Geometry
before we denote the length of its edges by the le er a . The
conven onal unit cell contains 8 la ce points at the Lattice,
ver ces,Basis and
each being shared by 8 cells and another la ce point that is
Crystal
completely inside the conven onal unit cell. So the number N of
Unit Cell, Primitive Cell
poitns per unit cell adds up to
and Wigner-Seitz Cell

Symmetry, Crystal
 1 Systems
N =8⋅ + 1 = 2. (1)and Bravais
8 Lattices

The Reciprocal Lattice

2. Packing Density
Common Crystal
Structures

r Close Packed
Structures: fcc and hcp
4r a
Body Centered Cubic
a (bcc)

Diamond Structure
a

Fig. 1 - When the la ce points are inflated gradually, at

some point they start to touch each other along the
diagonals of the cube. One can now interpret the atoms as
close packed spheres with a radius defined geometrically by
√3
4r = √3a ⇔ r = 4
a . [2]

The packing density ϱ is the ra o of the volume filled by the

spherical atoms within a unit cell to the total volume Vuc of the
unit cell. When considering a one-atomic basis there are n = 2
points per unit cell with a volume of Vsph = 43 πr3 each. Thus for
the packing density one obtains

√3 3 3
n ⋅ Vsph 2 ⋅ 43 π ⋅ ( 4
) a
ϱ= =
Vuc a3
√3π
= ≈ 68% (2)
8

which is slightly less than the highest possible value of 74%

which we obtained for the close-packed structures.[3] [4]

3. Coordination Number
 reference point

8 nearest neighbours

6 next-nearest neighbours

Fig. 1 - Each la ce points has 8 nearest neighbours (in the

centers of the neighboured cubes) and 6 next-nearest
neighbours (located at the neighboured ver ces of the
lattice).[5] [6]

In the bcc structure each atom has c1 = 8 nearest neighbours

(coordination number) at a distance of

√3
dc1 = 2r = a ≈ 0.866a (3)
2

and c2 = 6 next-nearest neighbours at a distance of

dc2 = a ≈ 2.3r ≈ 1.15 dc1. (4)

It is remarkable that there is a smaller number of nearest

neighbours compared to the close-packed structures but for the
bcc structure the next-nearest neighbours are only slightly
further away which makes it possible for those to par cipate in
bonds as well.

Close Packed Structures: fcc and hcp

Diamond Structure
 Related Articles

Solid State Physics

Lattice, Basis and Crystal

Solid State Physics

Unit Cell, Primitive Cell and Wigner-Seitz
Cell

Solid State Physics

Close Packed Structures: fcc and hcp

References

[1] S. H. Simon. Oxford Solid State Basics. Oxford. 2013. (ch.

12.2.1)

[2] S. Hunklinger. Festkörperphysik. De Gruyter. 2014. (p.

68)

[3] R. Gross, A. Marx. Festkörperphysik. De Gruyter. 2014.

(ch. 1.2.3)

[4] S. Hunklinger. Festkörperphysik. De Gruyter. 2014. (p.

68)

[5] R. Gross, A. Marx. Festkörperphysik. De Gruyter. 2014.

(ch. 1.2.3)

[6] S. Hunklinger. Festkörperphysik. De Gruyter. 2014. (p.

68)
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