Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
crystal
Table of Contents
References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics
Images & Videos
Learn how the shape of the crystals determine the different minerals into families
Figure 1: Unit cells for face-centred and body-centred cubic lattices. Figure 2: Stacking of spheres in closest-packed arrangements. Figure 3: Crystal structures. There is an equal number of the two types of ions in the unit cell of the (A) cesium chloride, (B) sodium chloride, and (D) zinc blende arrangements. The diamond arrangement is shown in (C). If both atoms are identical in (A), the structure is body-centred cubic. Figure 4: The icosahedral arrangement of boron molecules. Figure 5: Crystalline lattice defect. An edge dislocation occurs when there is a missing row of atoms as shown in region b. Region a is strained. Figure 6: Incident rays (1 and 2) at angle θ on the planes of atoms in a crystal. Rays reinforce if their difference in path length (AB + BC) is an integer times the wavelength of the X ray. crystal bonding Figure 7: Crystal pulling using the Czochralski method. A schematic view of a modern apparatus.
How do snowflakes form?
For Students
halite crystals
crystal summary
Discover
January 21, 2019: Superbowl LIII will be played at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday, February 3, 2019 against the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams.
What Was the Super Bowl’s First Blockbuster Commercial?
Chapter 4 pg 42 - Chapter header of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. Published in 1884 by The American Publishing Company
Periods of American Literature
Remarkable new details of Pluto's largest moon Charon are revealed in this image from New Horizons' Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI), taken late on July 13, 2015 from a distance of 289,000 miles
Why Is Pluto No Longer a Planet?
earthquake. Heavily damaged school in the town of Yingxiu after a major earthquake struck China's Sichuan Province on May 12, 2008.
The 6 Deadliest Earthquakes Since 1950
The Lost Colony of Roanoke, North Carolina, where 115 people mysteriously disappeared c. 1590. John White discovers the word Croatoan carved onto a tree upon his return to the deserted Roanoke Colony in 1590
The Lost Colony of Roanoke
Sailboat against a beautiful landscape
Which Waters Do You Pass Through When You “Sail the Seven Seas”?
Data analysis of the Super Bowl's "winningest" teams, game locations, MVP winners by position, teams with the most game losses. football, sports, infographic
From Sport to Spectacle: The History of the Super Bowl

crystal: Facts & Related Content

verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Share
Share to social media
URL
https://www.britannica.com/facts/crystal
Written and fact-checked by
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

The Information Architects maintain a master list of the topics included in the corpus of  Encyclopædia Britannica, and create and manage the relationships between them.
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Facts

Also Known As crystalline solid • crystal structure

Photos and Videos

Figure 1: Unit cells for face-centred and body-centred cubic lattices.
Figure 2: Stacking of spheres in closest-packed arrangements.
Figure 3: Crystal structures. There is an equal number of the two types of ions in the unit cell of the (A) cesium chloride, (B) sodium chloride, and (D) zinc blende arrangements. The diamond arrangement is shown in (C). If both atoms are identical in (A), the structure is body-centred cubic.
Figure 4: The icosahedral arrangement of boron molecules.
Figure 5: Crystalline lattice defect. An edge dislocation occurs when there is a missing row of atoms as shown in region b. Region a is strained.
Figure 6: Incident rays (1 and 2) at angle θ on the planes of atoms in a crystal. Rays reinforce if their difference in path length (AB + BC) is an integer times the wavelength of the X ray.
crystal bonding
Figure 7: Crystal pulling using the Czochralski method. A schematic view of a modern apparatus.
electron hole: movement
Figure 5: Minerals displaying good crystal form. Although such occurrences are in the minority, they receive considerable attention because of their beauty and because they reflect the symmetry content inherent in the external form and in the internal structure of the mineral. (From top) wulfenite, PbMoO4, from Mexico; rose quartz from Minas Gerais state, Brazil; microcline feldspar, KAlSi3O8, the greenish blue variety known as amazonite, with smoky (dark gray) quartz, from Colorado, U.S.
Learn how the shape of the crystals determine the different minerals into families
How do snowflakes form?
Fascinating facts about crystals
Learn about magnetic fields and the levels of particles, atoms, crystals, and domains
See All Videos and Images →

Related Topics and References

Topics
Dig Deeper: More Articles That Discuss This Topic

Key People

Steno, Nicolaus
Nicolaus Steno
Danish geologist
Ralph Walter Graystone Wyckoff
American chemist
Max von Laue
German physicist
Georges Friedel
French crystallographer
Torbern Bergman, detail of an oil painting by Per Krafft; in the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm
Torbern Olof Bergman
Swedish chemist and naturalist
René-Just Haüy
French mineralogist
Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, 2006.
Pierre-Gilles de Gennes
French physicist
Bertram Eugene Warren
American crystallographer
Victor Mordechai Goldschmidt
German crystallographer
Charles Mauguin
French mineralogist