Crystallography is the scientific study of crystals, including their formation, external shape (morphology), internal structure (atomic arrangement), and physical properties.
Crystal: A crystal is a solid material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in a highly ordered, repeating pattern (a crystal lattice) extending in all three spatial dimensions. This internal order is often reflected in the crystal's external shape, which consists of flat, planar surfaces called faces.
This contrasts with amorphous solids (like glass or opal), where the atoms are arranged randomly, with no long-range order.
Crystallization is the process by which a solid crystal forms from a solution, melt, or gas. This process typically involves two main stages:
The final shape of a crystal depends on factors like temperature, pressure, and the chemical environment during its growth.
These are the fundamental external parts of a well-formed crystal:
This is the same as an apex or vertex. It is the three-dimensional "corner" formed by the intersection of three or more faces. It's called a solid angle because it encloses a specific volume of space, analogous to how a 2D angle encloses an area.
This is one of the most important concepts in classical crystallography.
Interfacial Angle (θ): The angle between the perpendicular lines (normals) drawn to two adjacent crystal faces.
Note: We measure the angle between the normals, not the "internal" or "external" angle between the faces themselves. This is a common point of confusion.
This angle is measured using an instrument called a goniometer (contact goniometer for large crystals, reflecting goniometer for small, well-formed crystals).
The importance of this measurement is enshrined in the First Law of Crystallography.
A Zone is a set of crystal faces whose intersection edges are all mutually parallel. Imagine a crystal as a building; all the vertical faces (like the N, S, E, W walls) would belong to the same zone.
A Crystal Form is a group of crystal faces that are all equivalent and have the same relationship to the crystal's internal symmetry. For example, the 6 faces of a perfect cube are all identical in terms of their size, shape, and atomic environment; together, they constitute the "cube form."
Habit refers to the overall characteristic shape or general appearance of a crystal. This is distinct from its "form." While the *form* is defined by symmetry, the *habit* is defined by the relative sizes and development of different faces.
For example, a crystal with the "octahedron form" might grow very flat, resulting in a tabular habit. A crystal with the "prism form" might grow very long and thin, giving it an acicular habit. Habit is heavily influenced by the crystal's growth conditions (temperature, pressure, impurities).
| Habit Name | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Acicular | Needle-like, slender and tapering | Rutile |
| Prismatic | Elongated in one direction, with prominent prism faces | Quartz, Tourmaline |
| Tabular | Tablet-shaped, flat and plate-like | Barite, Wulfenite |
| Bladed | Elongated and flattened, like a knife blade | Kyanite |
| Equant / Isometric | Roughly equal dimensions in all directions | Garnet, Pyrite |
| Fibrous | Consists of thin, flexible fibers | Asbestos (Serpentine) |
| Botryoidal | Grape-like, hemispherical masses | Hematite, Smithsonite |
These are the fundamental principles upon which the science of crystallography is built.
First proposed by Nicolaus Steno in 1669.
Steno's Law: In all crystals of the same substance, the angles between corresponding faces are constant, regardless of the size, shape, or origin of the crystal.
This means a tiny, perfectly formed quartz crystal from Brazil and a large, distorted quartz crystal from the Alps will have the exact same interfacial angles between their corresponding prism and pyramidal faces. This law is a direct consequence of the fixed, ordered internal arrangement of atoms. The faces may grow at different rates (leading to different habits), but their angular relationship (their orientation) is fixed by the internal lattice.
Proposed by René Just Haüy, this law explains *why* Steno's Law is true.
Law of Rational Indices: The intercepts that any crystal face makes with the crystallographic axes can be expressed as simple whole-number ratios (or infinity) of the "unit intercepts" for that substance.
This law led to the concept of the unit cell—the fundamental repeating block of the crystal. It means that all crystal faces must be parallel to a possible plane of atoms in the crystal lattice. You can't have a face that cuts "randomly" through the lattice. This is the basis for the Miller Indices, which are a notation system (covered in Unit III) used to label these faces based on their rational intercepts.
To describe a crystal in 3D space, we define a set of three (or four) imaginary lines called crystallographic axes, which originate at the crystal's center.
A "unit face" is chosen (often the largest or most common face) that intersects all three axes at specific distances. These distances are the "unit intercepts."
The Axial Ratio is the ratio of these unit intercepts. By convention, the length of the 'b' axis is set to 1.
Axial Ratio = (a / b) : (b / b) : (c / b) or simply a : 1 : c
For example, in the mineral Barite, the axial ratio is 0.815 : 1 : 1.313. This means that for every 1 unit of length along the 'b' axis, the unit face cuts the 'a' axis at 0.815 units and the 'c' axis at 1.313 units. This ratio, along with the angles (α, β, γ), is unique and constant for every mineral and forms the basis for classifying them into the 7 Crystal Systems.