Questions tagged [crystallography]
For questions concerning crystalline structures and their properties.
61 questions
6
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1answer
77 views
Are electronic descalers a scam?
It seems there are some electronic kits sold around nowadays by major retailers (e.g., Home Depot and Amazon) claimed to remove built-up scale from water pipes.
But, do they actually work? If so, ...
4
votes
2answers
470 views
Sulfuric acid symmetry point group
On the following page: https://cccbdb.nist.gov/pglist.asp It appears that the point symmetry group of sulphuric acid is $C_2$. I know that $C_2$ means that there is an axis of symmetry of order 2 (180 ...
5
votes
0answers
50 views
Effect of spontaneous transmutation of atom in crystal
What happens to a compound when one of its atoms changes via spontaneous nuclear reaction to an atom with very different bonding? For example, beryllium-7 turns into lithium-7 with a half-life of 53 ...
1
vote
1answer
50 views
Lattice type from image
What type of 2D lattice is depicted in the image shown below? Is it possible to determine without knowing the length of the unit vectors and the angles in between them? I'm confused because it ...
12
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4answers
1k views
What is the smallest molar volume?
I wondered how small a volume a mole of material could occupy, so I started with carbon, which would need 12 grams. That's 60 carats, and there happens to be a famous 60 carat diamond.
If my density/...
3
votes
1answer
67 views
Testing for asbestos using readily available chemicals and tools?
Given that it is difficult to determine who is telling the truth in the recent claim that J&J covered up finding asbestos in their powder, is there any chemical test that we can perform on our own ...
2
votes
0answers
47 views
Reading Stereographs
On an old paper, I found an interesting representation of some symmetry operations: stereographs.
Online I found a set of symmetry operations and related stereographs (see: http://newton.ex.ac.uk/...
3
votes
0answers
144 views
X-ray structure analysis mirrored coordinates?
How to ensure, that X-ray crystallography structure analysis was done right to provide correct, non-mirrored atomic coordinates?
Example: Following Wikipedia image,
is generated from data taken from ...
1
vote
1answer
141 views
How to get ionic radii for coordination number 12?
I am studying $\ce{ABX3}$ perovskites, and I would like to calculate Goldschmidt tolerance factors for them. The $\ce{A}$ sites in these materials have a coordination number $12$.
The Shannon's ...
4
votes
1answer
117 views
What is the Crystal System of MoS2?
I'm confused about the crystal system of MoS2.
In the case of the monolayer MoS2, it has 3-fold rotation symmetry when viewed from the top of its unit cell (c-axis). Even in the case of bulk (AB ...
0
votes
1answer
305 views
What about Miller Indices of planes passing through origin?
For Miller Indices of planes if we encounter a case where the plane passes through the origin then I have heard that the only remedy can be arrived by shifting the origin to a different point.However ...
6
votes
1answer
112 views
What is the diagram of the roto-inversion of $\bar 6$?
Using the standard way of representation:
Here we have a rotation followed by an inversion (technically called 'rotational inversion'). So as to represent it, what I have done is:
1) Both rotation ...
0
votes
1answer
635 views
Solubility curve for sodium tetraborate in water
What is the solubility curve for sodium tetraborate decahydrate ($\ce{Na2[B4O5(OH)4]·8H2O}$), otherwise known as borax, in water ($\ce{H2O}$)?
Additionally, what is the solubility of the ...
3
votes
1answer
71 views
Does a molecule need to be placed symmetrically in the unit cell?
I was watching an OCW by MIT (3.091X) on solid state. My previous notion of lattice point and unit cell got shattered after this example.
Where are the unit cell and lattice points in this picture?
...
-1
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0answers
77 views
Types of unit cells of solid state
$\ce{NaCl}$ forms FCC unit cell but not BCC though $\ce{Na}$ atoms occupy body centre as well as edge centre. Why?
1
vote
0answers
33 views
Rietveld (FullProf) general background function
I was reading through Eric Mittemeijer's book 'Modern Diffraction Methods' when I found the following statement in the Rietveld chapter by Robert Dinnebier.
It is common practice to use orthogonal ...
1
vote
1answer
284 views
Length of NaH bond from the edge length of unit cell
If the edge length of $\ce{NaH}$ unit cell is $\pu{488 pm}$, what is the length in $\pu{pm}$ of an $\ce{NaH}$ bond? The answer is $\pu{244 pm}$, I thought that $d = 2 \sqrt{2}\times r$ , do you not ...
3
votes
2answers
62 views
Is there a piece of software that can help me see the (hkl) planes in a crystal lattice?
I am doing research with calcium carbonate structures. I need a way in which I can familiarize myself with the lattice structure of calcium carbonate polymorphs, especially calcite.
I really struggle ...
1
vote
0answers
32 views
Rietveld refinement “fronting” of peak signal
I was trying to refine a crystal structure using Rietveld refinement yesterday. The crystal structure is already known for a related compound and the powder pattern seems to show a phase pure compound....
7
votes
2answers
1k views
Calculate the third and fourth nearest neighbours in bcc
My textbook has given data for third and fourth nearest neighbours to be 12 and 8 with distances $\sqrt{2}a$ and $\frac{\sqrt{11}a}{2}$.
I have been able to calculate for the first and second ...
1
vote
1answer
94 views
Why lattice constant (unit cell) is always a parallelepiped?
Wikipedia defines lattice constant as physical dimension of unit cells in a crystal lattice.
Unit cell is defined as:
The unit cell is defined as the smallest repeating unit having the
full ...
-1
votes
0answers
58 views
Incomplete definition of the unit cell of a lattice
All of the books/online sources that I have found cite the following definition of the unit cell of a lattice :
The unit cell is defined as the smallest repeating unit having the full symmetry of ...
1
vote
0answers
355 views
Body centered cubic lattice vs Primitive cubic unit cell
I was reading about Bravias lattices(cubic crystal system) when got confused about an article in my book.
Please refer to Counting body center as lattice point when basis consists of 2 atoms.
The ...
2
votes
1answer
57 views
Crystal structure database search for space groups
I'm usually using databases like the Springer Materials site or the free Crystallography Open Database to get crystal structure data. But none of these offers the possibility to search for all entries ...
1
vote
1answer
18 views
Electrochemical manufacturing of small metal components
Metal crystals easily can be grown via electrochemical pathways. Copper is a great example of this. I recently had an idea of growing those crystals in controlled ways (i.e.: surrounding the electrode ...
1
vote
0answers
30 views
Single Crystalline Thin Films is detect by GIXRD? [closed]
I understand epitaxal thin film, have lattice match with substrate.
But what about those films that doesnt match but have only one XRD peak? Is this proof of single crystale thin film?
8
votes
1answer
282 views
How to dock aggregated structures comprised of “elementary” protein units like LEGO pieces?
There are proteins with intrinsic symmetries. For example:
I was wondering how to use transformations such as: rotations, translation, replications to construct possible structures using 2 types of ...
9
votes
1answer
1k views
How to make pyramid-shaped NaCl salt crystals
I'm attempting to make sea salt pyramids like the one below.
I understand this needs to be evaporated at a reasonable speed to stop the crystals forming a cube, as the when formed quickly, the edges ...
1
vote
0answers
111 views
Finding the percent void of the crystalline structure of NaCl [closed]
Find the percent of void in the crystal structure of $\ce{NaCl}$.
I am trying to calculate the percent void of the packing structure of $\ce{NaCl}$. Let's denote radius of anion as $r$, radius of ...
2
votes
0answers
33 views
What system of nomenclature can I use to indicate the positions of specific kinds of atoms of a surface reconstruction?
I was reading a journal based on SiC reconstructions, and they seem to mention that every dangling bond in the $(1\times 1)$ unreconstructed Si face or the $(0001)$ direction bonds up with a Si adatom ...
3
votes
0answers
42 views
Computational determination of unique adosrption sites
I'm not sure it's a chemistry question or physics question or math question. Since I'm active on this site, maybe someone here can point me in the right direction. I'm trying to enumerate all the ...
2
votes
0answers
79 views
What is the crystal structure for a crystal where the ratio of the squares of the angle peaks is 0.825?
I followed this and it gives an example of how to identify a crystal structure using XRD data.
I have an unknown alkali halide where two peaks were found at $2\theta =25.66$ and $2\theta = 28.3$. I ...
1
vote
0answers
50 views
What can be concluded from two different values for the interplanar distance between planes of atoms in an X-Ray diffraction experiment?
I analyzed an unknown Alkali Halide crystal using x-rays from a copper source. I need to find the d-spacing for this crystal, i.e. the interplanar distance between planes of atoms.
I found my $K_\...
2
votes
2answers
5k views
How do I calculate lattice points per unit volume? [duplicate]
My professor was explaining simple cubic, body centered cubic, and face centered cubic lattices and I didn't quite understand the calculations below:
Simple Cubic: $8 \cdot 1/8 = 1$ lattice point per ...
11
votes
1answer
863 views
Miller Indices: How to deal with some weird(-ish) cases?
I've recently been doing a spot of self-learning (Crystallography), and some of the examples provided in the Wikipedia article for Miller Indices have stumped me.
I can't for the world figure out how ...
16
votes
2answers
961 views
Why is crystallography still used in some cases for small molecule structure determination?
I was wondering for some time why in some cases x-ray crystallography and not NMR is used for structure determination of small molecules? Does crystallization maybe require a smaller amount of the ...
9
votes
0answers
85 views
Physical meaning of thermal parameters dimension (Ų)
In single-crystal x-ray crystallography both isotropic and anisotropic displacement parameters $U_{ij}$ of thermal ellipsoids have dimension of square angstrom ($Å^2$) as follows from the definition ...
5
votes
0answers
771 views
Can a solid be both crystalline and amorphous? [closed]
The first line in the Wikipedia article for "Glass" reads:
Glass is a non-crystalline amorphous solid that is often transparent and has widespread practical, technological, and decorative usage in, ...
1
vote
1answer
493 views
Crystallization in a solution of 2 or more solutes
This is a very basic question I found myself wondering. For simplicity's sake, we'll say it is a super saturated aqueous solution of an equivalent measure of sugar and salt. As the solution cools and ...
9
votes
1answer
248 views
+100
Use of geometry index for the determination of coordination environment
Geometry index $\tau$ is supposed to resolve proper geometry for coordination numbers (C.N.) 4 and 5 based on its extreme values ($0$ or $1$). There is also a web app Geom which handles both cases for ...
-1
votes
1answer
2k views
Number of atoms per unit cell
I don't understand the concept of unit cell and the number of atoms per unit cell in a cubic lattice also the calculations for the number of atoms. For example in the $\ce{fcc}$ lattice, number of ...
5
votes
1answer
174 views
Assigning absolute configuration when determining crystal structure isn't possible
When natural products are isolated, their structures are often determined by x-ray crystallography which gives a complete picture of the atom coordinates, the relative and the absolute stereochemical ...
10
votes
1answer
284 views
Is the 'central Tin atom' in crystalline tin oxide really offset like this?
Is the position of the central Tin atom as shown in the first figure ($\ce{SnO2}$) drawn offset towards the oxygen to the right for a reason? The oxygen also seems to reciprocate and move towards the ...
9
votes
1answer
602 views
How many crystal forms of HCl have been identified - where to find the unit cells/lattice constants?
This blog about stomach acid shows this image of the "zig-zag" form of crystalline HCl (see also Wikipedia where it looks (to me) like five four HCl's per unit cell), but links to this cubic crystal ...
3
votes
1answer
157 views
crystallinity of seed crystals
Does the crystallinity of seed crystals affect the final crystal structure? and is it different depending on the crystallized material?
5
votes
1answer
312 views
Structure of lead(II,IV) oxide
I need help sorting out the molecular structure of tri-lead tetroxide, aka lead(II,IV) oxide $\ce{Pb3O4}$.
This data sheet shows this image:
The Wikipedia's lead (II,IV) oxide's link to a Jmol ...
3
votes
0answers
748 views
What is the symmetry of the cuboctahedron (FCC metal)?
The background to this is that I've recently given a tutorial wherein we had to go through the determination of point groups for atoms in various lattices (BCC, FCC/CCP and HCP). BCC and HCP, I have ...
2
votes
1answer
425 views
Bravais Crystal Lattices and Voids
What is the difference between Hexagonal Close Packing (HCP) structures and the hexagonal crystal Bravais lattice? I've looked up some sites but can't seem to understand them. It would help if you ...
1
vote
1answer
45 views
How the crystal structure varying for the same compound?
i have synthesized the crystal Cyclohexylammonium acetate. Structure of this compound was already solved and it s under centro symmetric space group I2/a. But when i took single crystal analysis it ...
1
vote
0answers
36 views
Could XY crystal be a special case of X2YZ crystal?
There are some types of crystals we call them XY type (i.e. NaCl) or X2YZ type?
Could XY type be a special case of X2YZ type by assigning Y=Z?
