Question

Explain Self interstitial defect in elemental solid.

Answer 1

Self interstitial defect in elemental solid:

Interstitial sites in a crystal are the spaces or voids in between the particles at lattice points. When some particles of a crystalline elemental solid occupy interstitial sites in the crystal structure, it is called self interstitial defect.

This defect arises in the following two ways:

1. An extra particle occupies the empty interstitial space. This extra particle is similar to those already present in the crystal.
2. A particle gets shifted from its original regular site to an empty interstitial space in the crystal.