Cubic Crystal System
In crystallography, the cubic (or isometric) crystal system is a crystal system where the unit cell is in the shape of a cube. This is one of the most common and simplest shapes found in crystals and minerals.
There are three main varieties of these crystals:
- Primitive cubic (abbreviated cP and alternatively called simple cubic)
- Body-centered cubic (abbreviated cI or bcc),
- Face-centered cubic (abbreviated cF or fcc, and alternatively called cubic close-packed or ccp)
Each is subdivided into other variants listed below. Note that although the unit cell in these crystals is conventionally taken to be a cube, the primitive unit cell often is not. This is related to the fact that in most cubic crystal systems, there is more than one atom per cubic unit cell.
Read more about Cubic Crystal System: Cubic Space Groups, Crystal Classes, Voids in The Unit Cell, Atomic Packing Factors and Examples, Multi-element Compounds
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