Potassium Cyanide - Structure

Structure

In aqueous solution, KCN is dissociated into hydrated K+ ions and CN−. As a solid, the salt crystallizes such that the cations and anions organize like Na+ and Cl− in NaCl. The cations and anions six-coordinate. Each K+ is linked to two pi-bonds of the CN− as well as two links each to C and N each. Since CN− is diatomic, the symmetry of the solid is lower than that in NaCl. The cyanide anions form sheets. The CN− ions rapidly rotate in the solid at ambient temperature such that the time averaged shape of the CN− ions is spherical.

Read more about this topic:  Potassium Cyanide

Famous quotes containing the word structure:

    When a house is tottering to its fall,
    The strain lies heaviest on the weakest part,
    One tiny crack throughout the structure spreads,
    And its own weight soon brings it toppling down.
    Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)

    Communism is a proposition to structure the world more reasonably, a proposition for changing the world. As such, we have to analyze it and, if we deem it reasonable, act upon it.
    Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990)

    What is the most rigorous law of our being? Growth. No smallest atom of our moral, mental, or physical structure can stand still a year. It grows—it must grow; nothing can prevent it.
    Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)