Crystalline Solids

Amorphous Solid

1)      They have a regular three dimensional arrangement of atoms, ions or molecules due to which they have well defined geometrical shape.

They do not have regular arrangement of particles, therefore do not have well defined particles.

2)      They have long range order

They have short range order

3)      They have sharp melting point i.e., they melt at a particular temperature.

They do not have sharp melting point i.e., they melt over a range of temperature.

4)      They have high and fixed heat of fusion, i.e., high energy is required to melt 1 mole of crystalline solid.

They do not have fixed heat of fusion.

5)      They are anisotropic, i.e., they have different optical and electrical properties in different directions.

They are isotropic, i.e., they have same properties in all directions.

6)      They are true solids, i.e., they show all the characteristic properties of solids.

They are pseudo – solids, i.e., they do not show all the characteristic properties of solids.