Question

gallium arsenide is a compound that is important in light emitting diodes and solar cells. it packs in a crystalline lattice (shown). the gallium ions are the darker spheres and the arsenide ions are the lighter spheres in the unit cell shown. what is the empirical formula of the salt?

Answer 1

GaAs

Step-by-step explanation:

The gallium ions are face-centered cubic packed, which corresponds to four gallium ions per unit cell. There are four arsenide ions filling half of the tetrahedral holes. The empirical formula for this salt should then be reduced to its simplest ratio (1:1).