Using the Plan View To Teach Basic Crystallography in General Chemistry

The plan view is used in crystallography and materials science to show the positions of atoms in crystal structures. However, it is not widely used in teaching general chemistry. In this contribution, we introduce the plan view, and show these views for the simple cubic, body-centered cubic, face-ce...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of chemical education Vol. 92; no. 8; pp. 1415 - 1418
Main Authors Cushman, Cody V, Linford, Matthew R
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Easton American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc 11.08.2015
Division of Chemical Education, Inc and ACS Publications Division of the American Chemical Society
American Chemical Society
Subjects
Atomic structure
Chemistry
College Science
College students
Concept Teaching
Crystal structure
Crystallography
Diamonds
Face (Body)
Fundamental Concepts
Inorganic Chemistry
Instructional Effectiveness
Materials science
Molecular Structure
Nuclear Physics
Organic chemistry
Physical Sciences
Science education
Scientific Concepts
Sodium chloride
Student Reaction
Teaching aids & devices
Teaching Methods
First-Year Undergraduate/General
Solids
Materials Science
Inorganic Chemistry
Crystals/Crystallography
Solid State Chemistry
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Summary:The plan view is used in crystallography and materials science to show the positions of atoms in crystal structures. However, it is not widely used in teaching general chemistry. In this contribution, we introduce the plan view, and show these views for the simple cubic, body-centered cubic, face-centered cubic, hexagonal close packed, CsCl, NaCl, diamond cubic, ZnS, and CaF2 unit cells. A survey administered to college-level general chemistry students indicates that the plan view helps them to better understand crystal structures.
ISSN:0021-9584
1938-1328
DOI:10.1021/acs.jchemed.5b00011