• Question: What is crystallography?

    Asked by anglerge to Ben, Dave, Ed, Sam, Susana on 20 Jun 2013. This question was also asked by 11davij, kelseyann, natalie1, curlysue2000.
    • Photo: David Briggs

      David Briggs answered on 20 Jun 2013:

      Crystallography is a technique that we use to find out how atoms in molecules pack together – basically what molecules look like.

      It is called crystallography because in order to use this technique, we have to grow crystals of whatever molecule it is we are interested in.

      The first crystal structure ever solved was table salt (Sodium Chloride, the stuff you put on your chips), 100 years ago in 1913.

    • Photo: Sam Horrell

      Sam Horrell answered on 20 Jun 2013:

      Crystallography is pretty much using X-rays to make an atomic microscope. We use X-rays because their wavelength is similar to the length between an atomic bond. This means X-rays scatter off them and we can make a 3D model of a protein or other molecules that we crystallise. The problem is that you can’t focus X-rays with a lense like you do a regular microscope so we have to do some fancy tricks with maths and computers to turn the scattered X-rays into an image. So a synchrotron, where we get these X-rays, is effectively a huge microscope that needs focusing.

    • Photo: Susana Teixeira

      Susana Teixeira answered on 20 Jun 2013:

      Crystallography is the study of crystal structure.

      We first need to understand what are crystals: they are formed by many copies of the same molecule all oriented in the same way, at the same distance of each other, and concentrated in a small volume. This gives crystals interesting properties, that we can measure and relate to the structure of the molecules inside. That is what crystallography is!

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