A rare and bewildering intermediate between crystal and glass can be the most stable arrangement for some combinations of atoms, according to a study from the University of Michigan.

This material, known as amorphous ice, lacks regular ice’s highly ordered crystalline structure, leading scientists to categorize it as a glass — a liquid whose movement has slowed to a glacial pace.

Crystals are formed by atoms arranged in orderly, repeating patterns, while glass is a disordered, amorphous solid. Scientists know that, at low temperatures, ...

In medieval European cathedrals, the glass sometimes looks odd. ... do not attain the rigid order of crystals. "Amorphous means it doesn't have that long-range order," Ediger says.

Scientists at the University of Michigan have unlocked a long-standing mystery about quasicrystals exotic materials that straddle the line between the orderly structure of crystals and the chaos of ...

Clarifying the atomic structure of glass is one of the most important, yet unsolved issues in science. Silicon dioxide - crystalline and amorphous. Figure 1(a) illustrates how similar crystalline and ...

The amorphous state of matter is the most abundant form of visible matter in the universe, and includes all structurally ...

This work may lead to controlling the properties of amorphous materials. Sometimes expensive glass is advertised as “crystal”, but to material scientists, this could not be further from the truth.

Photonic crystal This sample of Roman glass is at the Center of Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia in Venice. (Courtesy:CCHT-IIT/National Archaeological Museum of Aquileia/Italian Ministry of Culture) A ...