crystal

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A rough, translucent yellow crystal of elemental sulfur displayed against a solid black background.

A cluster of purple crystals with jagged surfaces sits on a black background, illustrating the result of the crystallization process.

What Are the Seven Basic Crystal Systems?

crystal structures

boron molecules

crystalline lattice defect

Diagram showing four types of crystal bonding: ionic bonding with sodium and chlorine ions, covalent bonding with carbon atoms sharing electrons, metallic bonding with iron ions surrounded by free electrons, and molecular bonding with hydrogen molecules held by weak electrical attraction.

At a Glance

halite crystals

crystal summary

crystal: Media

physics

Videos

A cluster of purple crystals with jagged surfaces sits on a black background, illustrating the result of the crystallization process.

How Do Crystals Form?

Salt, sugar, microprocessors, and gemstones all have something in common: crystals.

Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

What Are the Seven Basic Crystal Systems?

What Are the Seven Basic Crystal Systems?

Minerals crystallize according to one of seven motifs, known as crystal systems.

Video: Created and produced by QA International. © QA International, 2010. All rights reserved. www.qa-international.com

Animated snowflake against a dark background.

How Do Snowflakes Form?

A snowflake starts as a dust grain floating in a cloud.

Video: © American Chemical Society (A Britannica Publishing Partner)

Fascinating facts about crystals

Fascinating facts about crystals

Discover five facts about crystals.

Video: © American Chemical Society (A Britannica Publishing Partner)

Learn about magnetic fields and the levels of particles, atoms, crystals, and domains

Learn about magnetic fields and the levels of particles, atoms, crystals, and domains

Magnetic fields and the levels of magnetism of particles, atoms, crystals, and domains....

Video: © MinutePhysics (A Britannica Publishing Partner)

Images

A rough, translucent yellow crystal of elemental sulfur displayed against a solid black background.

Sulfur

A crystal form of elemental sulfur. Sulfur has an atomic weight of about 32.06 atomic...

© Dmitry Knorre/Dreamstime.com

cubic lattices

cubic lattices

Figure 1: Unit cells for face-centred and body-centred cubic lattices.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

layered atoms

layered atoms

Figure 2: Stacking of spheres in closest-packed arrangements.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

crystal structures

crystal structures

Figure 3: Crystal structures. There is an equal number of the two types...

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

boron molecules

boron molecules

Figure 4: The icosahedral arrangement of boron molecules.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

crystalline lattice defect

crystalline lattice defect

Figure 5: Crystalline lattice defect. An edge dislocation occurs when there...

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

incident rays

incident rays

Figure 6: Incident rays (1 and 2) at angle θ on the planes of atoms in a...

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Diagram showing four types of crystal bonding: ionic bonding with sodium and chlorine ions, covalent bonding with carbon atoms sharing electrons, metallic bonding with iron ions surrounded by free electrons, and molecular bonding with hydrogen molecules held by weak electrical attraction.

crystal bonding

Different types of bonding in crystals.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Czochralski process

Czochralski process

A schematic view of a modern apparatus used to grow a large crystal.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Diagram of a germanium crystal lattice showing how the absence of an electron, called a hole, moves through the structure as electrons jump between atoms, with arrows and labels explaining each step.

electron hole: movement

Movement of an electron hole in a crystal lattice.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

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.

Figure 5: Minerals displaying good crystal form. Although such occurrences...

Courtesy of Joseph and Helen Guetterman collection; photograph John H. Gerard/Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Figure 8: Crystal structure models of mineral structures.

Figure 8: Crystal structure models of mineral structures.

Ward's Natural Science Establishment, Inc.

Figure 8: Crystal structure models of mineral structures.

Figure 8: Crystal structure models of mineral structures.

Ward's Natural Science Establishment, Inc.

A diagram displays illustrations of various common crystal aggregations and habits in minerals, including granular, lamellar, bladed, fibrous, acicular, radiating, dendritic, mammillated, colloform, stalactitic, geode, and oolitic forms, each labeled with mineral examples.

common crystals

Common crystal aggregations and habits.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Diagram showing three common metallic crystal structures: body-centred cubic with one atom at the center, face-centred cubic with atoms at each face and corner, and hexagonal close-packed with layers of atoms forming a hexagonal pattern.

The commonest metallic crystal structures.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

microphone

microphone

Cross section of a crystal microphone

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Diagram showing four types of crystal structures for rare-earth metals, each represented by colored geometric models with labeled axes and atomic positions. The structures include hexagonal close-packed (hcp), face-centered cubic (fcc), double hexagonal close-packed (dhcp), and Sm-type, with examples of elements listed below each structure.

Crystal structures of rare-earth metals.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Figure 3: The two general cooling paths by which a group of atoms can condense. Route 1 is the path to the crystalline state; route 2 is the rapid-quench path to the amorphous solid state.

Figure 3: The two general cooling paths by which a group of atoms can condense. Route...

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Diagram comparing four types of chemical bonds in crystalline solids: ionic bonds with alternating positive and negative ions in a grid, covalent bonds with shared electrons between carbon atoms in a tetrahedral structure, metallic bonds with positive metal ions surrounded by a cloud of electrons, and van der Waals bonds showing weak dipole attraction between neutral molecules. Each bond type is labeled and illustrated with explanatory text.

Figure 7: Chemical bonding in crystalline solids.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Three compression mechanisms in crystals.

Three compression mechanisms in crystals.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

halite crystals

halite crystals

Halite crystals.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

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