cerous sodium nitrate monohydrate, nace(no).h2o has density 2.641 g/cm. it can be made by boiling the stoichiometric mixture of cerous nitrate, and sodium nitrate in nitric acid, and then evaporating at 40 °c. the crystals are clear rod shaped monoclinic with space group "p"2/c. crystal cell sizes are a=21.387 b=7.9328 c=15.184 "β"=90.657 v=2576 formulas per cell z=8. the way the components are arranged in the crystal is that there are six nitrates around each cerium atom, however to get to the average of five per cerium, two nitrate groups on each, link the atoms into a chain along the an axis.