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The Halite Structure |
| Ball-and Stick Model Halite is the mineral name for sodium chloride. In this structure, the chloride ions (green spheres) form a face-centered cubic array, and the sodium ions (white spheres) occupy the octahedral holes.This illustration shows a ball-and-stick model of the halite strutcure. click here to see an animation of this model |
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Spacefilling Model A spacefilling model of the halite strrutcure. The chloride ions are roughly twice the size of the sodium ions. click here to see an animation of this model |
| Spacefilling Unit Cell A spacefilling unit cell model of the halite structure. |
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Spacefilling Unit Cell A larger, cutaway spacefilling model of the halite structure. This gives a better view of the internal strucuture. Halite has a coordination number of 6:6, meaning that each ion is surrounded by six of the other type. Can you convince yourself this is true? |
| Cutaway Spacefilling Model Since the face-centered cube is a close-packed strutcure, it can be alternativey be viewed as close-packed layers. Here a spacefilling model is sliced to show one close-packed layer of chloride ions. Note that the sodium ions, as well as the chloride ions, form a close-packed array. |
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Octahedral Hole Each of the sodium ions lies at the center of an octahedron of chloride ions. This models shows the outline of the center octahedral hole. |
