Introduction to Crystallography (Dover Classics of Science and Mathematics)

By Donald E. Sands

Book Overview

"This is truly a delightful monograph." -- Canadian Chemical Education
Designed as a useful, accessible introduction to the logical development of basic crystallographic concepts, this book presents important principles in a clear, concise manner that will enable the nonspecialist to read and comprehend crystallographic literature. Explanations are concise and mathematical prerequisites have been kept to a minimum.
In the first four chapters, the author presents the vocabulary of crystallography, with discussions of lattice points, unit cells, symmetry, point groups, crystal systems, space groups, and equivalent positions. The principles of x-ray diffraction and methods of determining crystal structures are summarized in the next two chapters. The final chapter describes various simple structures. Appendixes list the 230 space groups, introduce the reciprocal lattice, and describe the powder method. A well-chosen selection of problems (with solutions) encourages self-study.
Ideal as the basis for a course in crystallography and highly useful as an adjunct to physical chemistry courses, this book will also serve as an excellent reference for practicing chemists, mineralogists, metallurgists, and other workers in the field. 1969 edition.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0486678393
• ISBN13: 9780486678399
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.4" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Great intro to crystallography for material scientists

This book is an excellent introduction to crystallography. If you aren't interested in group theory, which most material scientists aren't, this is the book for you. The book covers the international crystallography notation well, describes some x-ray diffraction and reciprocal lattice topics, and overall conveyed the topics better than some professors can. For the price, I highly recommend picking this up!

A great book for beginners !

This book is definitely a good starting point to learn Crystallography. As a matter of fact the title is in my opinion a little misleading since the book really introduces the reader to X-ray Crystallography... The book starts with a concise yet elementary discussion of crystal lattices, point groups and space groups. The chapters are nicely woven together so that the reader easily develops a sense of continuity as the the concepts are introduced. Principles of diffraction phenomena and determination of atomic positions are very densely discussed. However the treatment is "crystal" clear and no vital details are ignored for the sake of "simplicity". The overall treatment is very elementary and requires an extremely modest amount of mathematical background. Fourier series a briefly introduced in the discussion of electron density and structure factors in an effective manner. The effect of glide planes and screw axes on the structure factor (systematic absences) are elegantly described in the examples. I wish D. Sands would have written an longer book and have included more material in structure determination as well as powder diffractometry itself (that's why the books is rated 4 stars only). He certainly has the ability to effectively get the points across throughout his book in a elegant fashion making the book easily readable. The book is ideally suited for those who would like to make their first steps into X-ray crystallography. In addition, the price is so right (as is the case with all Dover Series) you can not go wrong. I highly recommend it.