Crystal structure

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In mineralogy and crystallography, a crystal structure is a unique arrangement of atoms in a crystal. A crystal structure is composed of a motif, a set of atoms arranged in a particular way, and a lattice. Motifs are located upon the points of a lattice, which is an array of points repeating periodically in three dimensions. The points can be thought of as forming identical tiny boxes, called unit cells, that fill the space of the lattice. The lengths of the edges of a unit cell and the angles between them are called the lattice parameters. The symmetry properties of the crystal are embodied in its space group. A crystal's structure and symmetry play a role in determining many of its properties, such as cleavage, electronic band structure, and optical properties.

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News tagged with crystal structure

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A sticky solution for identifying effective probiotics

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Nov 24, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Scientists have crystallised a protein that may help gut bacteria bind to the gastrointestinal tract. The protein could be used by probiotic producers to identify strains that are likely to be of real benefit to people.


Computational microscope peers into the working ribosome

Computational microscope peers into the working ribosome (w/ Video)

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Nov 23, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (9) | comments 2

Two new studies reveal in unprecedented detail how the ribosome interacts with other molecules to assemble new proteins and guide them toward their destination in biological cells. The studies used molecular ...


Researchers take the lead out of piezoelectrics

Researchers take the lead out of piezoelectrics

Physics / Condensed Matter

created Nov 13, 2009 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0

There is good news for the global effort to reduce the amount of lead in the environment and for the growing array of technologies that rely upon the piezoelectric effect. A lead-free alternative to the current ...


Right first time: Pioneering new methods of drug manufacture

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Nov 11, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Engineers at the University of Leeds have developed a simple technology which can be used in existing chemical reactors to ensure "right first time" drug crystal formation.


Materials scientists find better model for glass creation

Materials scientists find better model for glass creation

Physics / Condensed Matter

created Nov 04, 2009 | popularity 3.6 / 5 (7) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Harvard materials scientists have come up with what they believe is a new way to model the formation of glasses, a type of amorphous solid that includes common window glass.


Researchers discover RNA repair system in bacteria

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Oct 12, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (6) | comments 0

In new papers appearing this month in Science and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, University of Illinois biochemistry professor Raven H. Huang and his colleagues describe the first RNA repair system to be ...


Stretching opens up possibilities for graphene

Stretching opens up possibilities for graphene

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Sep 28, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (13) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers say they have found a simple way to improve the semiconducting properties of the world’s thinnest material - by giving it a good tug.


Chemists Reach from the Molecular to the Real World with Creation of 3-D DNA Crystals

Chemists Reach from the Molecular to the Real World with Creation of 3-D DNA Crystals

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Sep 02, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (6) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- New York University chemists have created three-dimensional DNA structures, a breakthrough bridging the molecular world to the world where we live. The work, reported in the latest issue of ...


Researchers grow nanowire crystals for 3-D microchips

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Aug 26, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Stanford researchers have developed a method of stacking and purifying crystal layers that may pave the way for three-dimensional microchips.


Membrane breaks through performance barrier

Membrane breaks through performance barrier

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Jul 30, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (5) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Engineers have developed a new method for creating high-performance membranes from crystal sieves called zeolites; the method could increase the energy efficiency of chemical separations up ...


Carbon dioxide forms polymeric materials under high pressure

Carbon dioxide forms polymeric materials under high pressure

Physics / Condensed Matter

created Mar 25, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Carbon dioxide is a molecular gas at ambient conditions and an important consitituent of the Earth’s atmosphere. It is also a likely component in the Earth’s mantle, and it plays an important role in the life ...


Origins of Pompeii-style artefacts examined at ISIS

Origins of Pompeii-style artefacts examined at ISIS

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Feb 20, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (4) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Roman artefacts which are nearly two thousand years old with similarities to ancient remains found at Pompeii in Italy will be examined at the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s ISIS ...


Scientists create first crystal structure of an intermediate particle in virus assembly

Biology /

created Feb 08, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

The structure, described February 8 in an advance online publication of the journal Nature, provides fresh insights into the elegant dance that viral proteins perform to create the infectious structure that causes all ma ...


Taking the Stress Out of Magnetic Field Detection

Taking the Stress Out of Magnetic Field Detection

Physics / General Physics

created Jan 28, 2009 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (4) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have discovered that a carefully built magnetic sandwich that interleaves layers of a magnetic alloy with a few nanometers ...


Researchers discover 'on switch' for cell death signaling mechanism

Biology /

created Jan 05, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (6) | comments 0

Scientists at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) have determined the structure of the interactions between proteins that form the heart of the death inducing signaling complex (DISC), which is responsible for ...