What are the differences between crystals and amorphous substances?

In fact, all kinds of substances in life exist according to certain physical laws, and their forms also follow physical laws. General object shapes are divided into crystals and amorphous solids. The structures of these two types of crystals are very different, which means that the differences in their constituent objects are determined. Crystals are very common in modern industrial applications. Let’s take a look at the differences between crystals and amorphous materials. I hope everyone can understand this aspect.

Solid matter is divided into crystalline and amorphous. A crystal is a solid formed by atoms, ions or molecules arranged in space with a certain periodicity. During the crystallization process, it forms a solid with a certain regular geometric shape, such as table salt in the form of a cube, ice in the form of a hexagonal prism, alum in the form of an octahedron, etc. Non-crystals, or amorphous bodies, are solids in which atoms are not arranged in a certain spatial order, as opposed to crystals. Common non-crystals include glass and rosin.

Crystal

(1) The crystal has a neat and regular geometric shape;

(2) Crystals have a fixed melting point, and the temperature remains constant during the melting process;

(3)Crystals have anisotropic characteristics.

Amorphous solids refer to solids whose molecules (or atoms, ions) are not arranged in a regular periodic pattern in space. It does not have a regular shape, such as glass, rosin, paraffin, etc. Its physical properties are the same in all directions, which is called "isotropy". It has no fixed melting point. So some people call amorphous solids "supercooled liquids" or "liquids with very low fluidity".

The difference between crystal and amorphous:

A crystal is a solid whose internal particles are arranged in a periodic and repeating manner in three-dimensional space. It has long-range order and is arranged in a periodic and repeating manner.

Amorphous solids are solids whose internal particles are not arranged in a periodic repeating pattern in three-dimensional space. They have short-range order but not long-range order. Like glass. The appearance is a solid with irregular shape.

The reason why crystals and amorphous solids have different physical properties is mainly due to their different microstructures.