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:
“In a few days I’ll have lived one score and three days in this vale of tears. On I plod—always bored, often drunk, doing no penance for my faults—rather do I become more tolerant of myself from day to day, hardening my crystal heart with blasphemous humor and shunning only toothpicks, pathos, and poverty as being the three unforgivable things in life.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)
“The English countryside, its growth and its destruction, is a genuine and tragic theme.”
—E.M. (Edward Morgan)