Lattice Memes

Posts tagged with Lattice

Carbon Copy Bling
Chemistry Materials Science
1 month ago 10.5K views 0 shares
Carbon Copy Bling
*Adjusts lab goggles dramatically* Behold the diamond's "uniqueness"—literally just carbon atoms arranged in a perfect crystalline lattice with 154 picometer spacing! While jewelry commercials wax poetic about each diamond's special snowflake status, chemists are cackling in the corner knowing they're all IDENTICAL at the atomic level. It's like claiming every LEGO brick from the same mold has its own personality! The real magic? We pay thousands for what's essentially organized carbon that got really, really squeezed. Nature's most expensive game of atomic Tetris!

Crystallographers: Ruining Relationships Since 1913
Physics Materials Science Academia
3 months ago 8.6K views 0 shares
Crystallographers: Ruining Relationships Since 1913
Nothing kills the romance like a crystallographer in your bed. While normal people worry about relationship issues, this poor woman's partner is lying awake contemplating why reciprocal lattice space is denoted by G (for "grid") instead of R (for "reciprocal"). This is the kind of midnight crisis that haunts materials scientists and solid-state physicists everywhere. The notation G has been tormenting graduate students since 1913, and apparently ruining perfectly good relationships too.

New Optimal Packing Just Dropped
Math Physics Materials
5 months ago 12.8K views 0 shares
New Optimal Packing Just Dropped
Finally, a real-world application of the Kepler conjecture! Those Tic Tacs are packed so efficiently they'd make Johannes Kepler weep with joy. The manufacturer clearly hired a mathematician instead of a marketing executive. "How can we fit more mints in the same space? Simple! Just arrange them in a face-centered cubic lattice with 74.05% space efficiency!" Meanwhile, nature's been doing this with atoms for billions of years without bragging about it. The universe's oldest space-saving hack, now available in fresh mint flavor.