Solid State - Result Question 20

20. The packing efficiency of the two-dimensional square unit cell shown below is

(2010)

(a) $39.27 %$

(b) $68.02 %$

(c) $74.05 %$

(d) $78.54 %$

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Answer:

Correct Answer: 20. (d)

Solution:

  1. Contribution of circle from corner of square $=\dfrac{1}{4}$

$\Rightarrow$ Effective number of circle per square

$ =\dfrac{1}{4} \times 4+1(\text { at centre })=2 $

$\Rightarrow$ Area occupied by circle $=2 \pi r^{2}, r=$ radius.

Also, diagonal of square $4 r=\sqrt{2} L$, where $L=$ side of square.

$\Rightarrow$ Packing fraction $=\dfrac{\text { Area occupied by circles }}{\text { Area of square }}$

$ =\dfrac{2 \pi r^{2}}{L^{2}}=\dfrac{2 \pi r^{2}}{8 r^{2}}=\dfrac{\pi}{4}=0.785 $

$\Rightarrow %$ packing efficiency $=78.5 %$.