Question

Diamond cannot conduct electricity but graphite can

Answer 1

Explanation:

because graphite is good conductor of electricity and diamond is bad conductor of electricity

Answer 2

Diamond cannot conduct electricity, but graphite can conduct electricity because it has free electron.

Explanation:

• Both Diamond and Graphite are the allotrophic forms of Carbon.
• But diamond is the hardest substance, and graphite is soft, diamond cannot conduct electricity but graphite can.
• This property of graphite is because of the presence of free electrons.
• As we know that carbon is tetravalent, which means it has 4 valence electrons.
• In case of diamond all these 4 electrons are bonded with the 4 electrons of other adjacent carbon atoms. That's why it does not have any free electrons for the conduction of electricity, (which happens due to flow of electrons).
• But in case of Graphite, only three out of 4 valence electrons are bonded with the other 3 electrons of the adjacent carbon atom. Therefore, the one electron is free from each carbon atom which gets delocalized when electricity is passed through it, and hence it is a good conductor of electricity.