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how many types of crystals are there?what are they?

how many types of crystals are there?what are they?

Grade:12

3 Answers

Saurabh Kumar
askIITians Faculty 2400 Points
8 years ago
There are a couple of ways to answer this question. I generally think in terms of crystal systems and lattice types. There are 7 crystal systems:

triclinic - usually not symmetrical from one side to the other, which can lead to some fairly strange shapes
monoclinic - like skewed tetragonal crystals, often forming prisms and double pyramids
orthorhombic - like tetragonal crystals except not square in cross section (when viewing the crystal on end), forming rhombic prisms or dipyramids (two pyramids stuck together)
tetragonal - similar to cubic crystals, but longer along one axis than the other, forming double pyramids and prisms
trigonal - possess a single 3-fold axis of rotation instead of the 6-fold axis of the hexagonal division
hexagonal - six-sided prisms. When you look at the crystal on-end, the cross section is a hexagon
cubic - not always cube shaped! You'll also find octahedrons (eight faces) and dodecahedrons (10 faces).

Lattices can either be primitive (only one lattice point per unit cell) or non-primitive (more than one lattice point per unit cell).

If you combine the 7 crystal systems with the 2 different types of lattices, you end up with 14 Bravais Lattices (named after Auguste Bravais who figured all this out in 1850).
pa1
357 Points
8 years ago
there areb 4 types of crystals they are
1.ionic
2.covalent
3.molecular and
4.metalic crystals
VIKRAM ENIMIREDDY
53 Points
8 years ago
  crystals are 4 types:
1.ionic
2.covalent
3.molecular
4.metalic

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