What are graphite and diamond made of?

Both diamond and graphite are made of carbon atoms.

Both graphite and diamond belong to elemental carbon, and the chemical formula is C. There are valence bonds and molecular bonds in graphite structure, and their chemical properties are basically the same. But diamond and graphite are not the same substance, they are allotropes made of the same element carbon.

Mainly because of their different spatial structures, graphite atoms form a regular hexagonal plane structure, which is flaky, with molecular bonds between layers and easy to slide between layers, so graphite is soft, dark gray, metallic, greasy to the touch and has dark gray traces.

Because the hexagonal structure is stable and graphite can resist high temperature, graphite can be used as a high temperature lubricant. Graphite has excellent properties such as high temperature resistance, electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, lubrication, plasticity and chemical stability.

Structural characteristics of diamond and graphite

Diamond is the strongest carbon structure, and its carbon atoms are arranged in the form of crystal structure. Each atom in the diamond structure forms a regular tetrahedron with four adjacent atoms.

Besides diamond, crystals with diamond structure also include silicon, germanium and α-tin. The basic structural particle of diamond is carbon atom. Each carbon atom forms a * * valence single bond with four carbon atoms through sp3 hybrid orbitals, with a bond length of1.55x10-10m and a bond angle of109 28', forming a regular tetrahedron.

Graphite is an allotrope of elemental carbon and a transition crystal among atomic crystals, metal crystals and molecular crystals. In the crystal, the carbon atoms in the same layer hybridize with sp2 to form valence bonds, each carbon atom is connected with three other carbon atoms, and six carbon atoms form a regular hexagonal ring on the same plane, stretching to form a layered structure.