The definition of atomic radius is half the average internuclear distance of an atom.
But many times I've been told that it is not possible to handle a single atom. Thus how can we measure the internuclear distance of an atom?
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Sign up to join this communityThe definition of atomic radius is half the average internuclear distance of an atom.
But many times I've been told that it is not possible to handle a single atom. Thus how can we measure the internuclear distance of an atom?
As you told it is not possible to measure the inter nuclear distance of single atom. But here internuclear distance does not mean diameter of a single atom but it means distance between nucleus of two atom of same element.
This internuclear distance can be determined by two methods:
Note: Atomic radius is not a set value for a given atom. Eg. $\ce{Fe^{+2}}$ ion have different atomic radius than $\ce{Fe+}$. Moreover, $\ce{Fe^{+2}}$< $\ce{Fe+}$