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Graphite, an allotrope of carbon, is converted into cubic diamond through a process that may take a billion years or longer. As illustrated above, scientists can make synthetic diamonds using a certain process in about one week. However, these synthetic diamonds have carbon atoms in a hexagonal lattice. Diamonds with a carbon atoms in a cubic lattice are not produced even though they are thermodynamically more stable than hexagonal diamond. Which of the following best justifies why the synthetic process produces hexagonal diamond and not the more thermodynamically stable cubic diamond?

a. The amount of energy required to create new bonds between carbon atoms in cubic diamond is much greater than the amount of energy required to create hexagonal diamond.
b. The amount of energy required to create new bonds between carbon atoms in cubic diamond is much smaller than the amount of energy required to create hexagonal diamond.
c. The activation energy needed to form cubic diamond is much less than the activation energy needed to form hexagonal diamond.
d. The activation energy needed to form cubic diamond is much greater than the activation energy needed to form hexagonal diamond.

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Answer:

The activation energy needed to form cubic diamond is much greater than the activation energy needed to form hexagonal diamond.

Explanation:

The activation energy refers to the minimum energy that reacting species must possess before they can undergo a particular chemical reaction.

This implies that if species do not possess the activation energy, they hardly undergo a given reaction. The activation energy is the barrier between reactants and products.

Hence, a reaction that has a very high activation energy occurs slowly or may not even occur. The activation energy needed to form cubic diamond is much greater than the activation energy needed to form hexagonal diamond hence the synthetic process produces hexagonal diamond and not the more thermodynamically stable cubic diamond.

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