Chemistry / Unit 8 Chem 1485 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The Body-Centered Cubic Unit Cell
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The idea
A body-centered cubic cell adds one particle at its center to the corner arrangement, giving two particles total and coordination number eight.
In practice
Many alkali metals crystallize body-centered cubic, each corner atom contacting the center atom instead of other corners.
Where people slip
Corner atoms in a BCC cell do not touch each other — each contacts the center atom, the source of coordination number eight.
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