Symmetry of Solids

• There are 7 Lattice Systems - each has a different shape of unit cell.
• Some of those lattice systems can be broken into more specific shapes: This results in 14 Bravais Lattices.
• In first-year chemistry, you will focus on 3 Bravais Lattices: Simple Cubic, Body-Centred Cubic, Face-Centred Cubic.
• If you like this stuff, consider taking upper-year inorganic chemistry courses.

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The graphic on the right shows the 7 lattice systems (left-hand column) and the 14 Bravais Lattices.

Remember: You only need to focus on the three cubic Bravais Lattices.

Your teacher will also talk about "Hexagonal Close-Packed", which is "Hexagonal" in this diagram, because it is one of the most efficient at holding spheres (i.e. atoms)

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bravais_lattice