Question

What type of solid is Silicon Carbide?

Answer 1

Hint:Silicon carbide is represented as SiC because it consists of silicon and carbon atoms in them. Both the atoms Silicon and carbon belong to the same group but have different electronegativity values which is the reason for the formation of compounds.

Complete step-by-step answer:So analyzing the question we now know that we have to comment on the class of solid structure silicon carbide belongs to.
Before going into the solution, let us briefly discuss some facts related to silicon carbide. And about the structure and the arrangement of atoms to form SiC will answer.
Silicon carbide is also called carborundum and is naturally extracted from a very rare mineral called moissanite. SiC is a semiconductor that is formed by Si and C atoms. And because of its semiconducting property, it finds many industrial applications.
Both the atoms Si and C belong to the same group of the periodic table, it belongs to group 16or IV A group. But C belongs to the second period whereas Si belongs to the third period.
We are familiar with the electronegativity trend across the group and period in a periodic table.
The electronegativity parameter decreases as we move down the group and it increases as we move across the period from left to right.
Hence carbon atom will have a greater electronegativity value than the Si. In SiC, carbon will have a negative charge and it accepts the electrons from Si and Si will be positively charged.
In SiC the Si and C atoms are linked through covalent bonding. The silicon atom forms a triple bond with the carbon atom yielding positive and negative charge for Si and C respectively.
The bonding will be as follows:$S{i}^{+}\equiv C^{-}$
Hence we could say that SiC is a covalently bonded solid or a solid which have a covalent network solid.

Note:The solid SiC exists in various crystalline structures and one of the common crystalline structures shown by SiC is the hexagonal crystal structure.
SiC is used as an important raw material in the electronic industry to make semiconducting devices and LEDs and it is also used as an abrasive. It is used to make various cutting tools, hard ceramics, automobile parts, etc.