Crystals and Symmetry
Why Is Symmetry Important? Identification of Materials Prediction of Atomic Structure Relation to Physical Properties Optical Mechanical Electrical and Magnetic
Repeating Atoms in a Mineral
Unit Cell
All repeating patterns can be described in terms of repeating boxes Unit Cells All repeating patterns can be described in terms of repeating boxes
The problem in Crystallography is to reason from the outward shape to the unit cell
Which Shape Makes Each Stack?
Stacking Cubes
Some shapes that result from stacking cubes
Symmetry – the rules behind the shapes
Symmetry – the rules behind the shapes
Single Objects Can Have Any Rotational Symmetry Whatsoever
Rotational Symmetry May or May Not be Combined With Mirror Symmetry
The symmetries possible around a point are called point groups
What’s a Group? Objects plus operations New Objects Closure: New Objects are part of the Set Objects: Points on a Star Operation: Rotation by 72 Degrees Point Group: One Point Always Fixed
What Kinds of Symmetry?
What Kinds of Symmetry Can Repeating Patterns Have?
Symmetry in Repeating Patterns 2 Cos 360/n = Integer = -2, -1, 0, 1, 2 Cos 360/n = -1, -1/2, 0, ½, 1 360/n = 180, 120, 90, 60, 360 Therefore n = 2, 3, 4, 6, or 1 Crystals can only have 1, 2, 3, 4 or 6-Fold Symmetry
5-Fold Symmetry?
No. The Stars Have 5-Fold Symmetry, But Not the Overall Pattern
5-Fold Symmetry?
5-Fold Symmetry?
5-Fold Symmetry?
Symmetry Can’t Be Combined Arbitrarily
Symmetry Can’t Be Combined Arbitrarily
Symmetry Can’t Be Combined Arbitrarily
Symmetry Can’t Be Combined Arbitrarily
Symmetry Can’t Be Combined Arbitrarily
The Crystal Classes
Translation p p p p p p p p p p p p p pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pd pd pd pd pd pd pd pd pd pd p p p p p p p p p p p p p b b b b b b b b b b b b b pd pd pd pd pd pd pd pd pd pd bq bq bq bq bq bq bq bq bq bq pd bq pd bq pd bq pd bq pd bq pd bq pd bq p b p b p b p b p b p b p b
Space Symmetry Rotation + Translation = Space Group Rotation Reflection Translation Glide (Translate, then Reflect) Screw Axis (3d: Translate, then Rotate) Inversion (3d) Roto-Inversion (3d: Rotate, then Invert)
There are 17 possible repeating patterns in a plane There are 17 possible repeating patterns in a plane. These are called the 17 Plane Space Groups
Triclinic, Monoclinic and Orthorhombic Plane Patterns
Trigonal Plane Patterns
Tetragonal Plane Patterns
Hexagonal Plane Patterns
Why Is Symmetry Important? Identification of Materials Prediction of Atomic Structure Relation to Physical Properties Optical Mechanical Electrical and Magnetic
The Five Planar Lattices
The Bravais Lattices
Hexagonal Closest Packing
Cubic Closest Packing