What are Quasicrystals?

About Quasicrystal:

• Quasicrystal, also called quasi-periodic crystal, matter formed atomically in a manner somewhere between the amorphous solids of glasses and the precise pattern of crystals.

• In quasicrystals, the atoms are arranged in a pattern that repeats itself at irregular, yet predictable, intervals.
• The American-Israeli scientist Dan Shechtman discovered quasicrystals in the lab in 1982.
• The first natural quasicrystal found was as microscopic grains in a fragment of the Khatyrka meteorite lying in the Koryak mountains of Russia.
• The second time scientists found natural quasicrystals in the remains of the Trinity test of the Manhattan Project.
• Recently in the Sand Hills dunes in northern Nebraska, where scientists found silicate glass which is a dodecagonal quasicrystal, rare even for quasicrystals.

Applications of Quasicrystals

• They are used in surgical instruments, LED lights and nonstick frying pans.
• They have poor heat conductivity, which makes them good insulators.

 

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Q1) What is the structure of an amorphous solid?

Amorphous solids resemble liquids in that they do not have an ordered structure, an orderly arrangement of atoms or ions in a three-dimensional structure. 

Source: The third source of natural quasicrystals preserves their reputation for violent origins