What is a Unit Cell?

What is a unit cell? And what are cell parameters or Miller indices? In this video, we make sense of the confusing jumble of information about unit cells and learn why they’re so useful for understanding crystals and surfaces. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 01:12 Unit Tiles for 2D Patterns 04:31 Unit Cells for 3D Patterns 10:30 Interpenetrating Unit Cells 11:53 Bravais Lattices 15:02 Planes and Miller Indices 21:24 Crystal Surfaces 23:44 Macroscale Crystals 25:42 Further reading/watching Frank Hoffman’s lecture series on unit cells: https://youtu.be/aB7PUoPxjAM Wilson Bentley’s snowflake photographs courtesy of the Natural History Museum, London: https://tinyurl.com/yxkeabwb Visit us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram: https://www.facebook.com/sannijuroku https://twitter.com/sannijuroku https://www.instagram.com/sannijuroku/ Three Twentysix Project Leader: Dr Andrew Robertson Assistant Editor: Purple Saptari 3D Animations: Es Hiranpakorn Graphic Design contributor: Maria Sucianto This video was produced at Kyushu University and supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP21K02904. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Kyushu University, JSPS or MEXT.