Answer to Question #125644 in General Chemistry for Dlo

Question

Which best describes the motion of iron atoms in solid iron?

Answer 1

Vibration best describes it.

Solid iron is crystalline, therefore its atoms do not move around, but only vibrate. In crystalline solids, energy is conducted through their bulk in a complicated way, which solid state physicists currently model using a quasiparticle called a phonon. The speed of a phonon through the bulk of a solid is taken to be the speed of sound in the solid, though it also indirectly defines things like thermal and electrical conductivity.