Chemistry · Ch 6 — Solid State
Introduction
Introduction
Look around you and you'll find far more solids than liquids or gases -- most of what you touch, use and build with is solid matter, held in a definite shape and volume because its atoms, ions or molecules are locked into an ordered arrangement. Diamond, metals and plastics are all solids, yet each behaves completely differently, which is exactly why understanding the link between a solid's internal structure and its properties matters so much for real applications.
What this unit sets out to do. By the end of it you should be able to:
- describe the general characteristics of solids, and distinguish amorphous from crystalline solids;
- define the unit cell, and describe the different types of voids and close-packed structures;
- calculate the packing efficiency of different types of cubic unit cells;
- solve numerical problems involving unit cell dimensions;
- explain point defects in solids.
Sir William Henry Bragg and his son Sir Lawrence Bragg invented the X-ray spectrometer and founded X-ray crystallography -- the technique of analysing crystal structure using X-ray diffraction. They shared the 1915 Nobel Prize in Physics for this work, and the mineral braggite is named in their honour.