Atomic Packing Factor: The Budget Edition

Atomic Packing Factor: The Budget Edition
materials-memes, crystallography-memes, budget-memes, packing-memes, atoms-memes | ScienceHumor.io

When someone asks about your budget constraints and you're living like atoms in a crystal lattice! The image shows a perfect example of inefficient atomic packing—spheres surrounded by cubes with tons of wasted space. In crystallography, this would be a materials scientist's nightmare with a pathetically low packing factor.

For the uninitiated, efficient crystal structures like face-centered cubic have atoms packed so tightly they reach 74% space utilization. This budget, however, is operating at maybe 30% efficiency—basically the crystallographic equivalent of paying Manhattan rent for a closet-sized apartment while your neighbor's cat has the penthouse.

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