A crystal is a solid material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions. Crystal growth is a major stage of a crystallization process, and consists in the addition of new atoms, ions, or polymer strings into the characteristic arrangement of a crystalline Bravais lattice. The growth typically follows an initial stage of either homogeneous or heterogeneous (surface catalyzed) nucleation, unless a "seed" crystal, purposely added to start the growth, was already present.
The action of crystal growth yields a crystalline solid whose atoms or molecules are typically close packed, with fixed positions in space relative to each other. The crystalline state of matter is characterized by a distinct structural rigidity and virtual resistance to deformation (i.e. changes of shape and/or volume). Most crystalline solids have high values both of Young's modulus and of the shear modulus of elasticity. This contrasts with most liquids or fluids, which have a low shear modulus, and typically exhibit the capacity for macroscopic viscous flow.
Read more about Crystal Growth: Introduction, Discontinuity, Nucleation, Mechanisms of Growth, Morphology
Famous quotes containing the words crystal and/or growth:
“Shall we gather at the river,
Where bright angel feet have trod;
With its crystal tide for ever,
Flowing by the throne of God?”
—Robert Lowry (1826–1899)
“A revolution is not the overturning of a cart, a reshuffling in the cards of state. It is a process, a swelling, a new growth in the race. If it is real, not simply a trauma, it is another ring in the tree of history, layer upon layer of invisible tissue composing the evidence of a circle.”
—Kate Millett (b. 1934)