Question

Which of following unit cell has the smallest atomic packing factor? (a) BCC unit cell (b) FCC unit cell (c) SC unit cell (d) HCP unit cell

Answer 1

(c) SC unit cell

Step-by-step explanation:

• BCC (Body centered cubic ) : In this one atom is present at center of the cell and one at each corner the packing factor of the BCC is 68%
• FCC( Face centered cubic ): In this one atom is present at the each faces and one at each corner the packing factor of FCC is 74 %
• SC (Simple cubic ) : In this the atoms are present only at corner its packing factor is 52.4 %
• HCP (Hexagonal closed pack ) its packing factor is 74.04 %

So from above discussion it is clear that simple cubic has smallest packing factor