CRYSTALLINE STRUCTURE

Matters

Solid Fluid

Crystalline amorphous Liquid Gases

1. Distinguish clearly between crystalline and amorphous materials.

Answer: Solid can be generally divided into two categories-

a) Crystalline
b) Amorphous

Crystal: A crystal is a regular, ordered arrangement of atoms over a large scale. The atoms may be of
a single type or the repetition of a complex arrangement of many different types of atoms. The crystal
can be thought of as consisting of two separate parts: the lattice and the basis. The lattice is an ordered
arrangement of points in space, while the basis consists of the simplest arrangement of atoms which is
repeated at every point in the lattice to build up the crystal structure.

Examples: Al. Fe, Au and alkali materials are crystal solids. There are two types crystal, namely-

a) Single crystal
b) Poly crystal

Amorphous: In this solids the arrangement of different building constituents is not regular but
haphazard i.e. the constituents are arranged at random in the same disorderly way as in liquids. It is for
this reason that amorphous substance like glass, pitch and is regarded as super-cooled liquids or as
intermediate between solids and liquids. An amorphous substance does not have sharp melting point.

2. What is crystal? Discuss different types of crystals.

Answer: A crystal is a regular, ordered arrangement of atoms over a large scale. The atoms may be of
a single type or the repetition of a complex arrangement of many different types of atoms. The crystal
can be thought of as consisting of two separate parts: the lattice and the basis. The lattice is an ordered
arrangement of points in space, while the basis consists of the simplest arrangement of atoms which is
repeated at every point in the lattice to build up the crystal structure.

There are two types of crystal such as

a) Single crystal
b) Poly crystal

Another types of crystals is amorphous

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Single crystal: When the periodicity of pattern extends through out a certain piece of material then we
call it a single crystal. In such crystal atoms are stayed with their maximum energy.

Poly crystal: When the periodicity of structure is interrupted at grains in which structure is periodic
may vary from macroscopic dimension to several angstroms then this material is called poly crystal.

Amorphous: When the size of the grains become comparable with the size of the pattern unit, the
periodicity of structure is completely disturbed, it is no longer a crystal, single or polycrystalline, but
becomes an amorphous substance.

3. What is lattice?
Answer: A lattice is a regular periodic arrangement of point in space that looks a net like structure. The
environment about any point is in every way the same as that any other point. There is no real existence
of this lattice points.

Figure: Lattice
There are two types of lattice
a) Bravais lattice
b) Non Bravais lattice
Bravais lattice: In a Bravais lattice all lattice points are identical or equivalent and hence all atoms are
of same kind.
Non Bravais lattice: In non Bravais lattice some of the lattice points are not identical or not equivalent.
Hence some of the atoms in the crystal are not of same kind.

C
C

A B
A B
Non Bravais Lattice
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(ABC) and (A’B’C’) are equivalent but A&A’, B&B’, C&C’ are not equivalent.

4. What is basis?
Answer: The atoms on the every lattice points are called basis i.e. basis is a collection of atom, may be
single or group of atoms. Every basis is identical in composition arrangement and orientation.

Basis

Lattice

Figure: Lattice and basis

The crystal structure is formed only when a basis of atoms is attached identically to each lattice point.
The logical relation is

Lattice + basis= Crystal structure

5. What is basis vector?

  
Answer: A region of the crystal defined by three vectors a , b and c which translated by any
integrals multiple of these vectors. These vectors are known as basis vector.

a c
b

Figure: Basis vector.

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For two dimension

Here a and b are basis vectors & n1 and n2 are integers

For three dimension

6. What do you mean by crystal translation vector?

Answer: A lattice translation operation or crystal translation operator is defined as the displacement of
the crystal parallel to itself by any translation vector.

, where T connects any two lattice point

An ideal crystal is composed of atoms arranged on a lattice defined by three fundamental
translation vectors such that the atomic arrangement looks the same in every respect when
viewed from any point r

T
r1
Where n1, n2 and n3 are arbitrary
r2
Integers

7. What is unit cell?

Answer: Unit cell is a region of the crystal defined by the basis vector such that a translation
of this region by any integer multiple of this vector will result in a similar region of the crystal. The unit
cell usually the smallest area by repeated translation of which the whole crystal system can be produced.

b b
’a
Condition

1) All unit cells have same area. If a and b are the basis vector then area,
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 S = ab

Again, S  = a  b

= a  ( a + b) = a  b = S
2) Each unit cell has only one lattice point.

Unit cell are two kinds:

i) Primitive unit cell
ii) Non primitive cell

Primitive unit cell: Unit cell occupying the smallest volume called the primitive unit cell. It is the
minimum volume cell. There is only one lattice point in a primitive cell.
Non primitive unit cell: A non primitive unit cell is a large than the minimum volume unit cell because
it exhibits the symmetry more clearly. The volume of the non primitive unit is an integral multiple of
primitive unit cell.

Volume of primitive unit cell,

V = ab.c
8. What do you mean by wigner Seitz Primitive unit cell?
Answer: The Wigner-Seitz cell is a primitive cell which displays the full symmetry of the lattice.
The Figure below shows the construction of a Wigner-Seitz cell.

a) Select a lattice point and

draw construction lines to
the nearest neighboring
points.

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 b) Draw lines that
perpendicularly bisect the
construction lines

c) The smallest enclosed

area represents the
Wigner-Seitz cell. Here
shown in bold line.

Figure- 4: Construction of the Wigner-Seitz cell.

9. Distinguish between unit cell and primitive unit cell.

Unit Cell Primitive unit cell

a) A unit cell is a volume by repeated a) The unit cell occupying the smallest
translation of which the whole volume in a given lattice is called the
crystal can be produced. primitive cell.

b) A unit cell may have more than one b) A primitive cell has only one lattice
lattice point. point.

c) All unit cells are not primitive cells c) All primitive cells are unit cells

10. What is Bravais lattice? Discuss the different types of Bravais lattice and the crystal
systems based upon them?

Bravais lattice: There are various ways of positioning structure less points in space such that all points
have identical surroundings. These are known as Bravais lattice. There are five Bravais lattice in two
dimensions and fourteen Bravais lattice in three dimensions.

Bravais lattice in two dimensions: There are five Bravais lattice in two dimensions. These are square,
oblique, hexagonal, primitive rectangular and centered rectangular as shown in figure below.

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 Name of the lattice Unit cell Characteristics
Squire a = b =; φ= 90˚
Rectangular a ≠ b ; φ= 90˚
Centered Rectangular a ≠ b ; φ= 90˚
Oblique a ≠ b; φ≠ 90˚
Hexagonal a = b ; φ= 120˚

Bravais lattice in three dimensions: In three dimensions there are 14 types of Bravais lattices. They
are conveniently grouped into seven systems according to the seven types of conventional unit cells,
which are triclinic, monoclinic, orthorhombic, tetragonal, cubic, trigonal and hexagonal. These seven
crystal systems with unit cell characteristics are listed in the table.

System No. of lattice in Lattice Unit cell Characteristics

system system
Triclinic 1 P a ≠ b ≠ c; α ≠ β ≠ γ ≠ 90˚
Monoclinic 2 P, C a ≠ b ≠ c; α = β = 90˚≠ γ
Orthorhombic 4 P, C, I, F a ≠ b ≠ c; α = β = γ =90˚
Tetragonal 2 P, I a = b ≠ c; α = β =γ = 90˚
Cubic 3 P, I, F a = b = c; α = β =γ = 90˚

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 Trigonal 1 R a = b = c;
α = β =γ <120˚,≠ 90˚
Hexagonal 1 P a = b ≠ c;
α = β = 90˚, γ=120˚

Where, P= Primitive, F= Face centered, I= Body centered,

B = Base centered and R= Rhombohedron





a

Figure: Lattice vector and Figure: 14 Three-dimensional

angle between them Bravais lattice

These 14 lattices are the unique scaffolds in which atoms or molecules may be arranged to form
crystalline materials.

However there is a further aspect of symmetry in crystals which must be considered to describe the
actual arrangement of atoms in a crystal. These are the various crystallographic Point Groups.

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