Answer to Question #171726 in General Chemistry for Lee

Question

How to find what a materials crystal structure is? (FCC, BCC, or neither FCC or BCC, or others)

Answer 1

A crystal structure is described by both the geometry of, and atomic arrangements within, the unit cell, whereas a crystal system is described only in terms of the unit cell geometry. For example, face-centered cubic and body-centered cubic are crystal structures that belong to the cubic crystal system.

The main technique for determining molecular structure in the gaseous and crystalline states is diffraction, electron diffraction for gases, and X-ray diffraction for crystals.