Chemical Forums
Chemistry Forums for Students => High School Chemistry Forum => Topic started by: zyxmyx on February 07, 2013, 06:53:58 PM
-
I drew a program on Marvin sketch, that I may present to a science fair. Basically, it consists of a quartz chain connected to a nitrogen atom, connected to another molecule(which I just substituted for the h) The main question I wanted to ask was any sort of problems in the stability of the atom in question. I also realize that my "quartz" crystal doesn't look anything like quartz, and was merely wondering if the concept itself was valid. If someone could answer this question, it would really make my day.
Thank you so much
-
whoops, forgot to post
-
You can try to see if what you've visualized can conform in some way to an existing silicate mineral: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicate_minerals One important consideration is the the silicon must be at the center of a tetrahedron. If your structure won't allow that, the compound isn't stable.
-
Thank you so much for replying! Unfortunately, this compound does not conform to any silicates that exist today, as it is nitrogenous, but it is(despite my lack of drawing ability) at the center of a tetrahedron, as it is just a regular quartz atom. The main question I had in mind was the stability of the NO2 bond at the edges.
-
Yes, in addition to silicon, you'll have to account for the geometry of the bond angles in the other atoms as well. Nitrogen is likewise a tetrahedron, it's just that one of the four bonds is represented by unpaired electrons. There's no reason to absolutely rule out your structure because of heteroatoms. Any crystal can have impurities, and still technically be the same crystal as if it were pure. Of course, just because something can be made, doesn't mean its stable enough at intermediate steps to allow it to be made. Also, there's the issue of if the molecule can even begin to be made, if you can't impart the energy needed at all without failure.