What is the structure of a diamond atom?

Answer 1

Synthetic single crystal diamond has an identical physical structure to that of natural single crystal diamond. The basic diamond atomic structure, described by its unit cell can be pictured as a face-centred cube with a carbon atom in the middle of each face and four more atoms arranged diagonally opposite each other in pairs, with the upper plane offset at a right angle to the lower plane. Unlike graphite, the individual planes are not flat but corrugated. In diamond, each carbon atom is connected to four other carbon atoms by covalent bonds. In the simplest case, these four atoms form a perfect tetrahedron. Due to covalent bonding between the atoms there are no free electrons and synthetic diamond is normally not electrically conducting. In the case for synthetic diamond, one or more of the carbon atoms might be replaced (or substituted) with nitrogen atoms, giving the diamond a yellow colour.

Answer 2

Carbon atoms in a diamond are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice.

The face-centered cubic has lattice points on the faces of the cube of which each unit cube gets exactly one half contribution, in addition to the corner lattice points, giving a total of four atoms per unit cell.

Answer 3

Diamond is made up of carbon atoms arranged in a crystalline lattice structure. Each carbon atom is bonded to four other carbon atoms in a tetrahedral arrangement, forming a strong and rigid network. This unique structure gives diamond its exceptional hardness and optical properties.