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Information about Crystal

A crystal is a solid in which the constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are
packed in a regularly ordered array extending in all three spatial
dimensions. Various shapes of crystals are found in nature, and are
dependent on the types of molecular bonds between the atoms to determine the
structure. Snowflakes, diamonds, and common salt are examples of crystals.

Salt is an example of an ionic crystal. It has ionic bonds between the
adjacent atoms in the fundamental salt crystal pattern or unit cell.

Solids without such ordering are known as amorphous solids. While quartz is
crystalline silicon dioxide (SiO2), fused quartz has the same chemical
composition but is an amorphous solid.

Most crystalline materials have a variety of crystallographic defects. The
types and structures of these defects often control the properties of the
materials.

Some crystalline materials may exhibit special electrical properties such as
the ferroelectric effect. The behaviour of light in crystals is described by
crystal optics.

In a household context, crystal (short for lead crystal) refers to silicate
glasses made with lead and alkali oxides. Despite the confusions with its
name, lead crystal or any form of glass is an amorphous solid.

Liquid crystals occupy a conceptual middle ground between the crystalline
and the amorphous--they exhibit order in some dimensions, but amorphous-like
disorder in others.

Crystal is also a slang term for methamphetamine.

There was a 1960s American girl group called The Crystals, best known for
songs like "He's a Rebel" and "Then He Kissed Me".

There is a fictional superhero named Crystal who was a member of the
Inhumans, and a girl friend at one time of Johnny Storm.

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