8/18/2019 Crystal - Wikipedia

Crystal
A cry stal or cry stalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a cry stal lattice that extends
in all directions. [1 ][2 ] In addition, macroscopic single cry stals are usually identifiable by their geometrical shape, consisting of flat faces with specific, characteristic orientations. The scientific study of
cry stals and cry stal formation is known as cry stallography . The process of cry stal formation v ia mechanisms of cry stal growth is called cry stallization or solidification.

The word crystal deriv es from the Ancient Greek word κρύσ ταλ λ ος (krustallos), meaning both "ice" and "rock cry stal", [3 ] from κρύος (kruos), "icy cold, frost". [4 ][5 ]

Examples of large cry stals include snowflakes, diamonds, and table salt. Most inorganic solids are not cry stals but poly cry stals, i.e. many microscopic cry stals fused together into a single solid.
Examples of poly cry stals include most metals, rocks, ceramics, and ice. A third category of solids is amorphous solids, where the atoms hav e no periodic structure whatsoev er. Examples of amorphous
solids include glass, wax, and many plastics.
A crystal of amethyst quartz
Despite the name, lead cry stal, cry stal glass, and related products are not cry stals, but rather ty pes of glass, i.e. amorphous solids.

Cry stals are often used in pseudoscientific practices such as cry stal therapy , and, along with gemstones, are sometimes associated with spellwork in Wiccan beliefs and related religious
mov ements. [6 ][7 ][8 ]

Microscopically, a single crystal has

Contents atoms in a near-perfect periodic
Crystal structure (microscopic) arrangement; a polycrystal is
composed of many microscopic
Crystal faces and shapes crystals (called "crystallites" or
Occurrence in nature "grains"); and an amorphous solid
Rocks (such as glass) has no periodic
Ice arrangement even microscopically.
Organigenic crystals
Polymorphism and allotropy
Crystallization
Defects, impurities, and twinning
Chemical bonds
Quasicrystals
Special properties from anisotropy
Crystallography
Image gallery
See also
References
Further reading

Crystal structure (microscopic)

The scientific definition of a "cry stal" is based on the microscopic arrangement of atoms inside it, called the cry stal structure. A cry stal is a solid where the atoms form a periodic
Halite (table salt, NaCl): Microscopic and
arrangement. (Quasicry stals are an exception, see below). macroscopic

Not all solids are cry stals. For example, when liquid water starts freezing, the phase change begins with small ice cry stals that grow until they fuse, forming a polycrystalline structure. In
the final block of ice, each of the small cry stals (called "cry stallites" or "grains") is a true cry stal with a periodic arrangement of atoms, but the whole poly cry stal does not hav e a periodic
arrangement of atoms, because the periodic pattern is broken at the grain boundaries. Most macroscopic inorganic solids are poly cry stalline, including almost all metals, ceramics, ice,
rocks, etc. Solids that are neither cry stalline nor poly cry stalline, such as glass, are called amorphous solids, also called glassy , v itreous, or noncry stalline. These hav e no periodic order,
ev en microscopically . There are distinct differences between cry stalline solids and amorphous solids: most notably , the process of forming a glass does not release the latent heat of
fusion, but forming a cry stal does.

Microscopic structure of Macroscopic (~16cm)

A cry stal structure (an arrangement of atoms in a cry stal) is characterized by its unit cell, a small imaginary box containing one or more atoms in a specific spatial arrangement. The unit
a Halite (mineral) crystal. halite crystal. The right-
cells are stacked in three-dimensional space to form the cry stal. angles between crystal
(Purple is sodium ion,
green is chlorine ion). faces are due to the
The sy mmetry of a cry stal is constrained by the requirement that the unit cells stack perfectly with no gaps. There are 219 possible cry stal sy mmetries, called cry stallographic space
There is cubic symmetry cubic symmetry of the
groups. These are grouped into 7 cry stal sy stems, such as cubic cry stal sy stem (where the cry stals may form cubes or rectangular boxes, such as Halite (mineral) shown at right) or atoms' arrangement
in the atoms'
hexagonal cry stal sy stem (where the cry stals may form hexagons, such as ordinary water ice). arrangement

Crystal faces and shapes

Cry stals are commonly recognized by their shape, consisting of flat faces with sharp angles. These shape characteristics are not necessary for a cry stal—a cry stal is scientifically
defined by its microscopic atomic arrangement, not its macroscopic shape—but the characteristic macroscopic shape is often present and easy to see.

Euhedral cry stals are those with obv ious, well-formed flat faces. Anhedral cry stals do not, usually because the cry stal is one grain in a poly cry stalline solid.

The flat faces (also called facets) of a euhedral cry stal are oriented in a specific way relativ e to the underly ing atomic arrangement of the cry stal: they are planes of relativ ely low
Miller index. [9 ] This occurs because some surface orientations are more stable than others (lower surface energy ). As a cry stal grows, new atoms attach easily to the rougher and
less stable parts of the surface, but less easily to the flat, stable surfaces. Therefore, the flat surfaces tend to grow larger and smoother, until the whole cry stal surface consists of
As a Halite (mineral) crystal is growing, new atoms can very
these plane surfaces. (See diagram on right.) easily attach to the parts of the surface with rough atomic-
scale structure and many dangling bonds. Therefore, these
One of the oldest techniques in the science of cry stallography consists of measuring the three-dimensional orientations of the faces of a cry stal, and using them to infer the
parts of the crystal grow out very quickly (yellow arrows).
underly ing cry stal sy mmetry . Eventually, the whole surface consists of smooth, stable
faces, where new atoms cannot as easily attach
A cry stal's habit is its v isible external shape. This is determined by the cry stal structure (which restricts the possible facet orientations), the specific cry stal chemistry and bonding themselves.
(which may fav or some facet ty pes ov er others), and the conditions under which the cry stal formed.

Occurrence in nature

Rocks
By v olume and weight, the largest concentrations of cry stals in the Earth are part of its solid bedrock. Cry stals found in rocks ty pically range in size from a fraction of a millimetre to sev eral centimetres
across, although exceptionally large cry stals are occasionally found. As of 1999, the world's largest known naturally occurring cry stal is a cry stal of bery l from Malakialina, Madagascar, 18 m (59 ft)
long and 3.5 m (11 ft) in diameter, and weighing 380,000 kg (840,000 lb). [1 0 ]

Some cry stals hav e formed by magmatic and metamorphic processes, giv ing origin to large masses of cry stalline rock. The v ast majority of igneous rocks are formed from molten magma and the degree
of cry stallization depends primarily on the conditions under which they solidified. Such rocks as granite, which hav e cooled v ery slowly and under great pressures, hav e completely cry stallized; but
many kinds of lav a were poured out at the surface and cooled v ery rapidly , and in this latter group a small amount of amorphous or glassy matter is common. Other cry stalline rocks, the metamorphic
Ice crystals
rocks such as marbles, mica-schists and quartzites, are recry stallized. This means that they were at first fragmental rocks like limestone, shale and sandstone and hav e nev er been in a molten condition
nor entirely in solution, but the high temperature and pressure conditions of metamorphism hav e acted on them by erasing their original structures and inducing recry stallization in the solid state. [1 1 ]

Other rock cry stals hav e formed out of precipitation from fluids, commonly water, to form druses or quartz v eins. Ev aporites such as Halite (mineral), gy psum and some limestones hav e been
deposited from aqueous solution, mostly owing to ev aporation in arid climates.

Ice
Water-based ice in the form of snow, sea ice and glaciers is a v ery common manifestation of cry stalline or poly cry stalline matter on Earth. A single snowflake is a single cry stal or a collection of
cry stals, [1 2 ] while an ice cube is a poly cry stal. [1 3 ]

Fossil shell with calcite crystals

Organigenic crystals
Many liv ing organisms are able to produce cry stals, for example calcite and aragonite in the case of most molluscs or hy droxy lapatite in the case of v ertebrates.

Polymorphism and allotropy

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The same group of atoms can often solidify in many different way s. Poly morphism is the ability of a solid to exist in more than one cry stal form. For example, water ice is ordinarily found in the hexagonal form Ice I h , but can also exist as the
cubic Ice I c , the rhombohedral ice II, and many other forms. The different poly morphs are usually called different phases.

In addition, the same atoms may be able to form noncry stalline phases. For example, water can also form amorphous ice, while SiO2 can form both fused silica (an amorphous glass) and quartz (a cry stal). Likewise, if a substance can form
cry stals, it can also form poly cry stals.

For pure chemical elements, poly morphism is known as allotropy . For example, diamond and graphite are two cry stalline forms of carbon, while amorphous carbon is a noncry stalline form. Poly morphs, despite hav ing the same atoms, may
hav e wildly different properties. For example, diamond is among the hardest substances known, while graphite is so soft that it is used as a lubricant.

Poly amorphism is a similar phenomenon where the same atoms can exist in more than one amorphous solid form.

Crystallization
Cry stallization is the process of forming a cry stalline structure from a fluid or from materials dissolv ed in a fluid. (More rarely , cry stals may be deposited directly from gas; see thin-film deposition and epitaxy .)

Cry stallization is a complex and extensiv ely -studied field, because depending on the conditions, a single fluid can solidify into many different possible forms. It can form a single cry stal, perhaps with v arious
possible phases, stoichiometries, impurities, defects, and habits. Or, it can form a poly cry stal, with v arious possibilities for the size, arrangement, orientation, and phase of its grains. The final form of the solid
is determined by the conditions under which the fluid is being solidified, such as the chemistry of the fluid, the ambient pressure, the temperature, and the speed with which all these parameters are changing.

Specific industrial techniques to produce large single cry stals (called boules) include the Czochralski process and the Bridgman technique. Other less exotic methods of cry stallization may be used, depending
on the phy sical properties of the substance, including hy drothermal sy nthesis, sublimation, or simply solv ent-based cry stallization.

Large single cry stals can be created by geological processes. For example, selenite cry stals in excess of 10 meters are found in the Cav e of the Cry stals in Naica, Mexico. [1 4 ] For more details on geological
cry stal formation, see abov e.

Cry stals can also be formed by biological processes, see abov e. Conv ersely , some organisms hav e special techniques to prevent cry stallization from occurring, such as antifreeze proteins.

Defects, impurities, and twinning Vertical cooling crystallizer

in a beet sugar factory.
An ideal cry stal has ev ery atom in a perfect, exactly repeating pattern. [1 5 ] Howev er, in reality , most cry stalline materials hav e a v ariety of cry stallographic defects, places
where the cry stal's pattern is interrupted. The ty pes and structures of these defects may hav e a profound effect on the properties of the materials.

A few examples of cry stallographic defects include v acancy defects (an empty space where an atom should fit), interstitial defects (an extra atom squeezed in where it does not fit), and dislocations (see figure at
right). Dislocations are especially important in materials science, because they help determine the mechanical strength of materials.

Two types of
crystallographic defects. Top
right: edge dislocation.
Bottom right: screw
dislocation.
Another common ty pe of cry stallographic defect is an impurity , meaning that the "wrong" ty pe of atom is present in a cry stal. For example, a perfect cry stal of diamond would only contain carbon atoms, but a
real cry stal might perhaps contain a few boron atoms as well. These boron impurities change the diamond's color to slightly blue. Likewise, the only difference between ruby and sapphire is the ty pe of
impurities present in a corundum cry stal.
In semiconductors, a special ty pe of impurity , called a dopant, drastically changes the cry stal's electrical properties. Semiconductor dev ices, such as transistors, are
made possible largely by putting different semiconductor dopants into different places, in specific patterns.

Twinning is a phenomenon somewhere between a cry stallographic defect and a grain boundary . Like a grain boundary , a twin boundary has different cry stal
orientations on its two sides. But unlike a grain boundary , the orientations are not random, but related in a specific, mirror-image way .

Mosaicity is a spread of cry stal plane orientations. A mosaic cry stal is supposed to consist of smaller cry stalline units that are somewhat misaligned with respect to each other.

Chemical bonds
In general, solids can be held together by v arious ty pes of chemical bonds, such as metallic bonds, ionic bonds, cov alent bonds, v an der Waals bonds, and others. None of these are necessarily
cry stalline or non-cry stalline. Howev er, there are some general trends as follows. Twinned pyrite crystal group.

Metals are almost alway s poly cry stalline, though there are exceptions like amorphous metal and single-cry stal metals. The latter are grown sy nthetically . (A microscopically -small piece of metal may
naturally form into a single cry stal, but larger pieces generally do not.) Ionic compound materials are usually cry stalline or poly cry stalline. In practice, large salt cry stals can be created by solidification of a molten fluid, or by cry stallization
out of a solution. Cov alently bonded solids (sometimes called cov alent network solids) are also v ery common, notable examples being diamond and quartz. Weak v an der Waals forces also help hold together certain cry stals, such as cry stalline
molecular solids, as well as the interlay er bonding in graphite. Poly mer materials generally will form cry stalline regions, but the lengths of the molecules usually prev ent complete cry stallization—and sometimes poly mers are completely
amorphous.

Quasicrystals
A quasicry stal consists of array s of atoms that are ordered but not strictly periodic. They hav e many attributes in common with ordinary cry stals, such as display ing a discrete pattern in x-ray
diffraction, and the ability to form shapes with smooth, flat faces.

Quasicry stals are most famous for their ability to show fiv e-fold sy mmetry , which is impossible for an ordinary periodic cry stal (see cry stallographic restriction theorem).

The International Union of Cry stallography has redefined the term "cry stal" to include both ordinary periodic cry stals and quasicry stals ("any solid hav ing an essentially discrete diffraction
diagram"[1 6 ] ).

Quasicry stals, first discov ered in 1982, are quite rare in practice. Only about 100 solids are known to form quasicry stals, compared to about 400,000 periodic cry stals known in 2004. [1 7 ] The 2011
Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Dan Shechtman for the discov ery of quasicry stals. [1 8 ]

The material holmium–magnesium–

Special properties from anisotropy zinc (Ho–Mg–Zn) forms
quasicrystals, which can take on the
Cry stals can hav e certain special electrical, optical, and mechanical properties that glass and poly cry stals normally cannot. These properties are related to the anisotropy of the cry stal, i.e. the lack of
macroscopic shape of a
rotational sy mmetry in its atomic arrangement. One such property is the piezoelectric effect, where a v oltage across the cry stal can shrink or stretch it. Another is birefringence, where a double image dodecahedron. (Only a quasicrystal,
appears when looking through a cry stal. Moreov er, v arious properties of a cry stal, including electrical conductiv ity , electrical permittiv ity , and Y oung's modulus, may be different in different not a normal crystal, can take this
directions in a cry stal. For example, graphite cry stals consist of a stack of sheets, and although each indiv idual sheet is mechanically v ery strong, the sheets are rather loosely bound to each other. shape.) The edges are 2 mm long.
Therefore, the mechanical strength of the material is quite different depending on the direction of stress.

Not all cry stals hav e all of these properties. Conv ersely , these properties are not quite exclusiv e to cry stals. They can appear in glasses or poly cry stals that hav e been made anisotropic by working or stress—for example, stress-induced
birefringence.

Crystallography
Crystallography is the science of measuring the cry stal structure (in other words, the atomic arrangement) of a cry stal. One widely used cry stallography technique is X-ray diffraction. Large numbers of known cry stal structures are stored in
cry stallographic databases.

Image gallery

Insulin crystals grown in earth orbit.
Hoar frost: A type of ice crystal (picture Gallium, a metal that easily forms large An apatite crystal sits front and center Boules of silicon, like this one, are an A specimen consisting of a bornite-
taken from a distance of about 5 cm). crystals. on cherry-red rhodochroite rhombs, important type of industrially-produced coated chalcopyrite crystal nestled in a
purple fluorite cubes, quartz and a single crystal. bed of clear quartz crystals and
dusting of brass-yellow pyrite cubes. lustrous pyrite crystals. The bornite-
coated crystal is up to 1.5 cm across.

See also
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8/18/2019 Crystal - Wikipedia
Atomic packing factor Crystal growth
Anticrystal Crystal oscillator
Cocrystal Liquid crystal
Colloidal crystal Time crystal

References
1. Stephen Lower. "Chem1 online textbook—States of matter" (http://www.chem1.
com/acad/webtext/states/states.html#SEC4). Retrieved 2016-09-19.
2. Ashcroft and Mermin (1976). Solid state physics.
3. κρύσταλλος (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%
3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dkru%2Fstallos), Henry George Liddell, Robert
Scott, A Greek -English Lexicon, on Perseus Digital Library
4. κρύος (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A199
9.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dkru%2Fos), Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A
Greek -English Lexicon, on Perseus Digital Library
5. "The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language" (https://www.ahdict
ionary.com/word/search.html?q=crystal&submit.x=0&submit.y=0). Kreus. 2000.
6. Regal, Brian. (2009). Pseudoscience: A Critical Encyclopedia. Greenwood. p.
51. ISBN 978-0-313-35507-3
7. Patti Wigington (31 August 2016). "Using Crystals and Gemstones in Magic" (h
ttp://paganwiccan.about.com/od/spellworkfolkmagic/ss/Magical-Crystals-And-G
emstones.htm#showall). About.com. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
8. "The Magic of Crystals and Gemstones" (http://witcheslore.com/bookofshadow
s/healing/the-magic-of-crystals-and-gemstones/4765/). WitchesLore. 14
December 2011. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
9. The surface science of metal oxides, by Victor E. Henrich, P. A. Cox, page 28,
google books link (https://books.google.com/books?id=X6x1MmPisKkC&pg=P
A2)
10. G. Cressey and I. F. Mercer, (1999) Crystals, London, Natural History Museum,
page 58
11. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication
now in the public domain: Flett, John Smith (1911). "Petrology". In Chisholm,
Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University
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12. Libbrecht, Kenneth; Wing, Rachel (2015-09-01). The Snowflak e: Winter's
Frozen Artistry (https://books.google.com/?id=jY9ADAAAQBAJ&pg=PA12&dq=
snowflake+is+usually+single+crystal#v=onepage&q=snowflake%20is%20usuall
y%20single%20crystal&f=false). Voyageur Press. ISBN 9781627887335.
13. Hjorth-Hansen, E. (2017-10-19). Snow Engineering 2000: Recent Advances and
Developments (https://books.google.com/books?id=Drs6DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA78
-IA186&dq=ice+cube+polycrystal+snow+is+single+crystal&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0
ahUKEwiowPuE7IDhAhXeGzQIHQPfCDgQ6AEIMTAB#v=onepage&q=ice%20cu
be%20polycrystal%20snow%20is%20single%20crystal&f=false). Routledge.
ISBN 9781351416238.
14. "Cave of Crystal Giants — National Geographic Magazine" (http://ngm.nationalg
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15. Britain), Science Research Council (Great (1972). Report of the Council (https://
books.google.com/?id=9fRt0TTYUTgC&q=%22ideal+crystal%22+has+every+at
om+in+a+perfect,+exactly+repeating+pattern&dq=%22ideal+crystal%22+has+
every+atom+in+a+perfect,+exactly+repeating+pattern). H.M. Stationery Office.
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Committee for 1991" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1826680).
Acta Crystallogr. A. 48 (6): 922. doi:10.1107/S0108767392008328 (https://doi.or
g/10.1107%2FS0108767392008328). PMC 1826680 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.g
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17. Steurer W. (2004). "Twenty years of structure research on quasicrystals. Part I.
Pentagonal, octagonal, decagonal and dodecagonal quasicrystals". Z.
Kristallogr. 219 (7–2004): 391–446. Bibcode:2004ZK....219..391S (http://adsab
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18. "The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2011" (https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/c
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Further reading
Howard, J. Michael; Darcy Howard (Illustrator) (1998). "Introduction to Crystallography and Mineral Crystal Systems" (https://web.archive.org/web/20060826015700/http://www.rockhounds.com/rockshop/xtal/index.html). Bob's Rock Shop. Archived from
the original (http://www.rockhounds.com/rockshop/xtal/index.html) on 2006-08-26. Retrieved 2008-04-20.
Krassmann, Thomas (2005–2008). "The Giant Crystal Project" (https://web.archive.org/web/20080426185221/http://giantcrystals.strahlen.org/). Krassmann. Archived from the original (http://giantcrystals.strahlen.org) on 2008-04-26. Retrieved 2008-04-20.
Various authors (2007). "Teaching Pamphlets" (https://web.archive.org/web/20080417001743/http://www.iucr.ac.uk/iucr-top/comm/cteach/pamphlets.html). Commission on Crystallographic Teaching. Archived from the original (http://www.iucr.ac.uk/iucr-top/
comm/cteach/pamphlets.html) on 2008-04-17. Retrieved 2008-04-20.
Various authors (2004). "Crystal Lattice Structures:Index by Space Group" (https://homepage.univie.ac.at/michael.leitner/lattice/spcgrp/index.html). Retrieved 2016-12-03.
Various authors (2010). "Crystallography" (http://www.xtal.iqfr.csic.es/Cristalografia/index-en.html). Spanish National Research Council, Department of Crystallography. Retrieved 2010-01-08.

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