Point groups are more important to pure chemistry than materials science, because chemistry often deals with single molecules, while materials science usually deals with crystals that repeat through...

Crystallography is one of those sub-fields that developed independently in a dozen different places. Geologists, physicists, chemists, mathematicians, and metallurgists all developed their own set of...

We’ve already covered the difference between the common cubic crystals (FCC and BCC), so now it’s time to discuss the difference between the common close-packed crystals (FCC and HCP). You...

You may have heard the term “stacking fault.” Perhaps you’ve realized that the FCC and HCP crystal structures have the same atomic density. If you’ve studied further, you might even know that...

If you’re anything like me, your introductory materials science class was going great until the prof switched from cubic Miller Indices to hexagonal Miller-Bravais indices. Miller-Bravais...

While modern thermometers are usually filled with dyed alcohol, mercury is a better liquid to use. Well, as long as you don’t count mercury’s health hazards. Nowadays, mercury thermometers are...