Amorphous carbon or free, reactive carbon, that does not have any crystalline structure (also called diamond-like carbon). As with all glassy materials, some short-range order can be observed. Amorphous carbon is often abbreviated to aC for general amorphous carbon, aC:H or HAC for hydrogenated amorphous carbon, or to ta-C for tetrahedral amorphous carbon
In mineralogy, amorphous carbon is the name used for coal, soot and other impure forms of the element, carbon that are neither graphite nor diamond. In a crystallographic sense, however, these materials are not truly amorphous, but are polycrystalline or nanocrystalline materials of graphite or diamond within an amorphous carbon matrix.
Read more about Amorphous Carbon: In Mineralogy, In Modern Science
Famous quotes containing the word amorphous:
“I feel like a white granular mass of amorphous crystals—my formula appears to be isomeric with Spasmotoxin. My aurochloride precipitates into beautiful prismatic needles. My Platinochloride develops octohedron crystals,—with a fine blue florescence. My physiological action is not indifferent. One millionth of a grain injected under the skin of a frog produced instantaneous death accompanied by an orange blossom odor.”
—Lafcadio Hearn (1850–1904)