CBSE Class 12-science Answered

Sodium chloride forms crystals with cubic symmetry. In these, the larger chloride ions, shown to the right as green spheres, are arranged in a cubic close-packing, while the smaller sodium ions, shown to the right as blue spheres, fill the octahedral gaps between them.

Each ion is surrounded by six ions of the other kind. This same basic structure is found in many other minerals, and is known as the halite structure. This arrangement is known as cubic close packed (ccp). It can be represented as two interpenetrating face-centered cubic (fcc) lattices, or one fcc lattice with a two atom basis. It is most commonly known as the rocksalt crystal structure.

It is held together with an ionic bond and electrostatic forces