Chrysotile [Mg₃Si₂O₅(OH)₄]

Unit cell

Lattice constants

a = 5.340 Å, b = 9.241 Å, c = 15.947 Å; α = 90.00°, β = 113.18°, γ = 90.00°

Cell volume

723.4 ų

Atoms in the conventional cell

56 (Mg 12, O 36, Si 8)

Formula units Z

4

Pearson symbol

mC56 — monoclinic, base-centred lattice, 56 atoms per conventional cell

Symmetry operations

4 per cell

Crystallographic sites

The multiplicity and the Wyckoff letter say how many copies of the site the group makes in one cell and on which kind of symmetry element the site sits; the 56 atoms drawn above are these sites multiplied by all 4 operations. Press Wyckoff under Colour to see the sites, and tick a symmetry element on the left to see which atoms lie on it.

How to read the label

A3B5C4D2_mC56_9_3a_5a_4a_2a-001: the stoichiometry comes first (A, B, C… are the elements in alphabetical order of their site labels), then the Pearson symbol mC56, then the space-group number 9, then the Wyckoff letters occupied by each element in turn (Mg: 4a; Mg: 4a; Mg: 4a; O: 4a; O: 4a; O: 4a; O: 4a; O: 4a; O: 4a; O: 4a; O: 4a; O: 4a; Si: 4a; Si: 4a). Two structures with the same label are the same arrangement with different cell parameters or coordinates.

Note: Chrysotile.

Source

Coordinates and cell from the AFLOW Encyclopedia of Crystallographic Prototypes, entry A3B5C4D2_mC56_9_3a_5a_4a_2a-001 (M. J. Mehl et al., Comput. Mater. Sci. 136, S1 (2017); D. Hicks et al., ibid. 161, S1 (2019) and 199, 110450 (2021); S. Eckert et al., ibid. 240, 112988 (2024)). Symmetry elements, Wyckoff assignment and the diagram are computed on this page from the group operations.