Euhedral and anhedral are terms used to describe opposite properties in the formation of

crystal A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macros ...

s. Euhedral (also known as idiomorphic or automorphic) crystals are those that are well-formed, with sharp, easily recognised faces. The opposite is anhedral (also known as ''

xenomorph The xenomorph (also known as a Xenomorph XX121, ''Internecivus raptus'', ''Plagiarus praepotens'', or simply the alien or the creature)Alien: The Weyland-Yutani Report is a fictional parasitoid, endoparasitoid Extraterrestrials in fiction, extra ...

ic'' or ''allotriomorphic''), which describes rock with a microstructure composed of mineral grains that have no well-formed crystal faces or cross-section shape in

thin section In optical mineralogy and petrography, a thin section (or petrographic thin section) is a thin slice of a rock or mineral sample, prepared in a laboratory, for use with a polarizing petrographic microscope, electron microscope and electron ...

. Anhedral crystal growth occurs in a competitive environment with no free space for the formation of crystal faces. An intermediate texture with some crystal face-formation is termed subhedral (also known as ''hypidiomorphic'' or ''hypautomorphic''). Crystals that grow from cooling liquid

magma Magma () is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are formed. Magma (sometimes colloquially but incorrectly referred to as ''lava'') is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also ...

typically do not form smooth faces or sharp crystal outlines. As magma cools, the crystals grow and eventually touch each other, preventing crystal faces from forming properly or at all. When

snowflake A snowflake is a single ice crystal that is large enough to fall through the Earth's atmosphere as snow.Knight, C.; Knight, N. (1973). Snow crystals. Scientific American, vol. 228, no. 1, pp. 100–107.Hobbs, P.V. 1974. Ice Physics. Oxford: C ...

s crystallize, they do not touch each other. Thus, snowflakes form euhedral, six-sided twinned crystals. In rocks, the presence of euhedral crystals may signify that they formed early in the crystallization of liquid magma or perhaps crystallized in a cavity or

vug A vug, vugh, or vugg () is a small- to medium-sized cavity inside rock. It may be formed through a variety of processes. Most commonly, cracks and fissures opened by tectonic activity ( folding and faulting) are partially filled by quartz, calc ...

, without

steric hindrance Steric effects arise from the spatial arrangement of atoms. When atoms come close together there is generally a rise in the energy of the molecule. Steric effects are nonbonding interactions that influence the shape ( conformation) and reactivi ...

, or spatial restrictions, from other crystals.

Etymology

"Euhedral" is derived from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

''eu'' meaning "well, good" and ''hedron'' meaning a seat or a face of a solid. “Anhedral” derives from the Greek “an”, meaning “not” or “without”.

Relation of face orientation to structure

Euhedral crystals have flat faces with sharp angles. The flat faces (also called

facet Facets () are flat faces on geometric shapes. The organization of naturally occurring facets was key to early developments in crystallography, since they reflect the underlying symmetry of the crystal structure. Gemstones commonly have facets cu ...

s) are oriented in a specific way relative to the underlying atomic arrangement of the crystal: They are planes of relatively low

Miller index Miller indices form a notation system in crystallography for lattice planes in crystal (Bravais) lattices. In particular, a family of lattice planes of a given (direct) Bravais lattice is determined by three integers ''h'', ''k'', and ''� ...

. This occurs because some surface orientations are more stable than others (lower

surface energy In surface science, surface energy (also interfacial free energy or surface free energy) quantifies the disruption of intermolecular bonds that occurs when a surface is created. In solid-state physics, surfaces must be intrinsically less energe ...

). As a crystal grows, new atoms attach easily to the rougher and less stable parts of the surface, but less easily to the flat, stable surfaces. Therefore, the flat surfaces tend to grow larger and smoother, until the whole crystal surface consists of these plane surfaces. (See diagram.)

Notes

References

* * {{refend Crystallography Mineral habits Petrology

Etymology

Relation of face orientation to structure

See also

Notes

References