Why do graphite and diamond both being made of carbon differ in their properties?

Graphite as well as diamond both are made of carbon but are still totally opposite in properties… This is because arrangement of carbon atoms in two substances is totally different. These structures are called allotropes of carbon…

How diamonds and graphite can both be made of pure carbon yet still be so different?

Both diamond and graphite are made entirely out of carbon, as is the more recently discovered buckminsterfullerene (a discrete soccer-ball-shaped molecule containing carbon 60 atoms). The way the carbon atoms are arranged in space, however, is different for the three materials, making them allotropes of carbon.

Why is diamond hardest substance while graphite is a soft substance?

Diamond has three dimensional network of strong covalent bonds. It is very difficult to break extended covalent bonding and therefore, diamond is the hardest substance on earth. On the other hand, graphite has layer structure and the layers are held together by weak Vander Waals’ forces.

Why is diamond hard but graphite soft and slippery?

Graphite is soft because it has weak inter molecular forces between its layers. Diamond is hard due to its giant covalent lattice and it has many strong covalent bonds.

What are the differences between diamond and graphite?

Explain the difference in properties of diamond and graphite on the basis of their structures.

DIAMOND	GRAPHITE
1) It has a crystalline structure.	1) It has a layered structure.
2) It is made up of tetrahedral units.	2) It has a planar geometry.

Why is diamond and graphite different?

Graphite and diamond are two of the most interesting minerals. They are identical chemically – both are composed of carbon (C), but physically, they are very different. Graphite is very soft and has a hardness of 1 to 2 on this scale. Diamonds are the hardest known natural substance and have a hardness of 10.

How does carbon form both graphite and diamond?

Both have Giant Covalent Structures, resulting in very high melting temperatures. However each carbon atom in Diamond has 4 covalent bonds with other Carbons, making it extremely strong and hard. On the other hand, each carbon in graphite is bonded to three carbons, and therefore graphite is formed in layers.

Why is graphite soft and diamond hard if both are pure carbon?

While there are strong covalent bonds between carbon atoms in each layer, there are only weak forces between layers. This allows layers of carbon to slide over each other in graphite. In this rigid network atoms cannot move. This explains why diamonds are so hard and have such a high melting point.

Why diamond is hard but not graphite?

However, diamond is harder than graphite because of the carbon atoms in a diamond form 4 covalent bonds in the form of tetrahedral structure. While the carbon atoms in the graphite form 4 covalent bonds in the form of hexagonal structure. This is the reason why diamond is harder than graphite.

Why is a diamond harder than graphite?

What is difference between carbon and diamond?

The key difference between carbon and diamond is that carbon is a chemical element whereas diamond is an allotrope of carbon. These structures contain only carbon as the chemical element but the spatial arrangement of the carbon atoms is different from each other.