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Question 85 of 95

Q.(a) Define a unit cell. Which colour is shown by NaCl crystal due to formation of F-centre?

(b) Why does fluorine show anomalous behaviour in '17 group' elements?
Maharashtra MsbshseMaharashtra HSC (MSBSHSE) Board 2025Subjective· 4mImportance★★★★★
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Unit cell = smallest repeating lattice unit. F-centre (trapped e−^- at an anion vacancy) gives NaCl its yellow colour. Fluorine's anomalies: smallest size, no d-orbitals, weak F-F bond (lone-pair repulsion), highest electronegativity.

  1. Unit cell: the smallest three-dimensional repeating structural unit of a crystal lattice which, when repeated indefinitely in all three spatial directions, generates the complete crystal structure. Colour of NaCl due to F-centre: F-centres (from German Farbzentrum, colour centre) are anion vacancies in the crystal lattice that have trapped an electron in place of the missing Cl−Cl^- ion (a metal-excess defect). These trapped electrons absorb visible light and get excited, imparting a yellow colour to the NaCl crystal.
  2. Anomalous behaviour of fluorine in Group 17:
  1. Fluorine has by far the smallest atomic/ionic size in the group.
  2. It has no accessible d orbitals (only 2s, 2p available), so it can never show a positive oxidation state — unlike Cl, Br, I, which show +1,+3,+5,+7+1, +3, +5, +7. …

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