Question

Zinc blende, or sphalerite, can be described as having a face-centered cubic unit cell with sulfur atoms at each lattice point and four zinc atoms within the unit cell. What is the empirical formula for this material? Follow standard convention for writing an empirical formula (ex. for AlCl3 enter AlCl3 not Cl3Al).

Answer 1

Answer:

ZnS  

Explanation:

1. Number of Zn atoms

4 internal atoms = 4 Zn atoms

2. Number of S atoms

8 corners × ⅛ S atom/corner + 6 faces × ½ S atom/face = 1 S atom + 3 S atoms = 4 S atoms

3. Empirical formula

The atomic ratio is

4Zn:4S = 1Zn:1S

The empirical formula is ZnS.