Amprphous Solids 1. Solids that don't have definite geometrical shape.

Crystalline Solids They have characteristic geometrical shape They have sharp melting point

2. Amorphous solids don't have particular melting point. They melt over a wide range of temperature. 3. Physical properties of amorphous solids are same in different direction,i.e. amorphous solids are isotropic

Physical properties of crystalline solids are different in different directions. This phenomenon is known as Anisotropy.

4. Amorphous solids are unsymmetrical

When crystalline solids are rotated about an axis, their appearance does not change. This shows that thay are symmetrical cleavage planes. Crystalline solids cleavage along particular direction at fixed cleavage plane

5. Amorphous solids don't break at fixed

Long-range order

Elements themselves are not crystalline or amorphous. Instead this describes the structure of certain elements and compounds in the solid state. For instance, a single element can be found in both a crystalline form as well as an amorphous form. A crystalline solid is one in which there is a regular repeating pattern in the structure, or in other words, there is long-range order. In fact, you can completely describe the entire crystal by describing the single "repeat unit." For instance, as a simple example, if I have the pattern ABCABCABCABCABC... (that repeats infinitely) I can completely describe it by just saying it is "ABC" over and over again. In a 3-dimensional crystal, this repeat unit is called the "unit cell." Some crystalline solids are diamond, table salt, and many types of minerals found in the earth. An amorphous solid is one which does not have long-range order. In other words, there is no repeat unit. To contrast the example above, it would now be: ABCBCABBCACBACBAC... where there is no way to figure out what will be the next letter. Some examples of amorphous solids are glass (in windows, for example), wax, and plastics. If a liquid cools very quickly, the molecules will not have time to arrange themselves in the most favorable pattern (which will almost always be crystalline), and so they are locked into a disordered solid. Silicon is a common solid that can be found in both amorphous and crystalline forms, depending on how it is manufactured. Crystalline silicon is much harder to grow, but it is what is used in computer chips. Amorphous silicon is much cheaper and easier to grow, and is commonly used in solar panels.

Crystal structure = Motif + Lattice 2D

3D

Atom can be placed any where in the lattice

Idea of Motif and lattice can be extended in three dimension

Primitive cell