The interaction energy is the potential energy between the atoms.

It is negative if the atoms are

bound and positive if they can move away from each other. The interaction energy is the
integral of the force over the separation distance, so these two quantities are directly related.
The interaction energy is a minimum at the equilibrium position. This value of the energy is
called the bond energy, and is the energy needed to separate completely to infinity (the work
that needs to be done to overcome the attractive force.) The strongest the bond energy, the
hardest is to move the atoms, for instance the hardest it is to melt the solid, or to evaporate its
atoms.

From strongest to weakest:

1. Covalent
2. Ionic
3. Metallic
4. H-bonds
5. Dipole-dipole
6. Dispersion
Covalent, ionic and metallic bonds are attractions between atoms. Hydrogen bonds, dipoledipole and dispersion forces are all external attractions/on the outside of molecules
(intermolecular bonds). Bonds between atoms are stronger than attractions outside of
molecules.

Important properties of the unit cells are

The type of atoms and their radii R.

cell dimensions (side a in cubic cells, side of base a and height c in HCP) in terms of
R.
n, number of atoms per unit cell. For an atom that is shared with m adjacent unit cells,
we only count a fraction of the atom, 1/m.
CN, the coordination number, which is the number of closest neighbours to which an
atom is bonded.
APF, the atomic packing factor, which is the fraction of the volume of the cell actually
occupied by the hard spheres. APF = Sum of atomic volumes/Volume of cell.

Principal Metal Crystal Structures There are three principle crystal structures for
metals: (a) Body-centered cubic (BCC), (b) Face-centered cubic (FCC), (c) Hexagonal closepacked (HCP)

The bcc arrangement does not allow the atoms to pack together as closely as the fcc or hcp
arrangements. The bcc structure is often the high temperature form of metals that are closepacked at lower temperatures. The volume of atoms in a cell per the total volume of a cell is
called the packing factor. The bcc unit cell has a packing factor of 0.68. Metals which have a
bcc structure are usually harder and less malleable than close-packed metals such as gold.
When the metal is deformed, the planes of atoms must slip over each other, and this is more
difficult in the bcc structure.

Face-centered cubic (FCC)

In the FCC structure (and the hcp structure) the atoms can pack closer together than they can
in the bcc structure. The atoms from one layer nest themselves in the empty space between the
atoms of the adjacent layer. The packing factor (the volume of atoms in a cell per the total
volume of a cell) is 0.74 for FCC crystals.

Hexagonal close-packed (HCP)

The hexagonal structure of alternating layers is shifted so its atoms are aligned to the gaps of
the preceding layer. The atoms from one layer nest themselves in the empty space between the
atoms of the adjacent layer just like in the FCC structure. However, instead of being a cubic
structure, the pattern is hexagonal.

Ceramics
Ceramics are inorganic and non-metallic materials that are commonly electrical and thermal
insulators, brittle and composed of more than one element (e.g., in Al2O3).
Ceramics usually have a combination of stronger bonds called ionic (occurs between a metal
and non-metal and involves the attraction of opposite charges when electrons are transferred
from the metal to the non-metal); and covalent (occurs between two non-metals and involves
sharing of atoms). The strength of an ionic bond depends on the size of the charge on each ion
and on the radius of each ion. The greater the number of electrons being shared, is the greater
the force of attraction, or the stronger the covalent bond. These types of bonds result in high
elastic modulus and hardness, high melting points, low thermal expansion, and good chemical
resistance. On the other hand, ceramics are also hard and often brittle (unless the material is
toughened by reinforcements or other means), which leads to fracture.
The properties of a particular ceramic depend not just on the materials from which it is made
but also on the way they are joined togetherin other words, on its crystalline structure.
Diamond is strong because all of its carbon atoms are bonded tightly to other carbon atoms.
Graphite (such as that used in pencil "leads") shears because it is made up from different layers.
Although the carbon atoms are tightly bonded within a given layer, the different layers are held
together only by much weaker bonds. China clay (also called kaolin) behaves in a similar way
to graphite, with its constituent aluminum, silicon, oxygen, and hydrogen atoms tightly bonded
into flat sheets. But the weak bonds between those sheets are easily broken when water
surrounds them and it is this that makes wet clay so easy to mold. When china clay is fired,
heat removes the water, and the chemicals inside the clay rearrange themselves into crystals of
aluminum silicate tightly bonded by silicate glass, which is overall very much stronger.
The building criteria for the crystal structure are: (1) maintain neutrality, (2) charge balance
dictates chemical formula and (3) achieve closest packing
The condition for minimum energy implies maximum attraction and minimum repulsion. This
leads to contact, configurations where anions have the highest number of cation neighbours
and vice versa. The parameter that is important in determining contact is the ratio of cation to
anion radii, rC/rA. For example, in the NaCl structure, rC = rNa = 0.102 nm, rA =rCl.= 0.181 nm,
so rC/rA.= 0.56. This implies coordination number = 6, as observed for this rock-salt structure.
Silicate Ceramics- Oxygen and Silicon are the most abundant elements in Earths crust. Their
combination (silicates) occur in rocks, soils, clays and sand. The bond is weekly ionic, with
Si4+ as the cation and O2- as the anion. rSi = 0.04 nm, rO.= 0.14 nm, so rC/rA = 0.286. This
implies coordination number = 4, that is tetrahedral coordination. The tetrahedron is charged:
Si4+ + 4 O2- (Si O4)4-. Silicates differ on how the tetrahedral are arranged. In silica, (SiO2),
every oxygen atom is shared by adjacent tetrahedral. Silica can be crystalline (e.g., quartz) or
amorphous, as in glass. Soda glasses melt at lower temperature than amorphous SiO2 because
the addition of Na2O (soda) breaks the tetrahedral network. A lower melting point makes it
easy to form glass to make, for instance, bottles.
Carbon- Carbon is not really a ceramic, but an allotropic form, diamond, may be thought as a
type of ceramic. Graphite has a layered structure with very strong hexagonal bonding within
the planar layers (using 3 of the 3 bonding electrons) and weak, van der Waals bonding between

layers using the fourth electron. This leads to easy interplanar cleavage and applications as a
lubricant and for writing (pencils). Graphite is a good electrical conductor and chemically
stable even at high temperatures.

Metals
In general, metals have weaker bonds than ceramics, which allows the electrons to move freely
between atoms. Think of a box containing marbles surrounded by water. The marbles can be
pushed anywhere within the box and the water will follow them, always surrounding the
marbles. This type of bond results in the property called ductility, where the metal can be easily
bent without breaking, allowing it to be drawn into wire. The free movement of electrons also
explains why metals tend to be conductors of electricity and heat.

Polymers
Plastics or polymers of the organic type consist of long chains of molecules which are either
tangled or ordered at room temperature. Because the forces (known as van der Waals) between
the molecules are very weak, polymers are very elastic (like a rubber band), can be easily
melted, and have low strength. Like ceramics, polymers have good chemical resistance,
electrical and thermal insulation properties. They are also brittle at low temperatures.