What Is Crystallography Used for?

Crystallography is used by materials scientists to characterize different materials. In single crystals, the effects of the crystalline arrangement of atoms is often easy to see macroscopically, because the natural shapes of crystals reflect the atomic structure.

What is the importance of crystallography?

It may not be the most familiar branch of science to everyone, but crystallography is one of the most important techniques in helping to understand the world around us. Crystallographers can work out the atomic structure of almost anything. And they use this knowledge to answer why things behave the way they do.

How is crystallography used today?

Today, crystallographers study the atomic structure of any material that can build a crystal, from very simple substances to viruses, proteins or huge protein complexes. But they also investigate a wide variety of other materials, such as membranes, liquid crystals, fibers, glasses, liquids, gases and quasicrystals.