| Introduction |
|
|
| When
spheres of equal size (radius r) are packed together as closely as possible
by stacking layers of hexagonally closest packed planes, the spheres themselves
occupy 74% of the available space. The cavities of empty space ("holes"
or "interstices") are found between layers.
For example, consider any two successive planes in a closest packed lattice. One atom in the A layer nestles in the triangular groove formed by three adjacent atoms in the B layer, and the four atoms touch along the edges of a regular tetrahedron. The edges of the tetrahedron are of length 2r, and the center of the tetrahedron is a cavity called the Tetrahedral hole (a common symbol for "tetrahedral" is Td). If a guest sphere in that cavity is in contact with all four host spheres, its radius is about 0.22r. |
||