Q. What is a unit cell?

Ans. UNIT CELL AND LATTICE CONSTANT: The smallest components of space lattice are known as unit cell or in other words when the smallest unit repeated in space will produce the space lattice.

      Unit cells for most crystal structures are parellelopipes or prism having three sets of parallel faces. Unit cell is a structural unit of the crystal structure and dictate the crystal structure by virtue of its geometry.

   The crystal consists of unit cells joint tightly together. the dimensions of this unit cell is given by six lattice parameter a, b, c, α, β and γ.the length of unit cell edges a,b,c and angle α,β,γ between the edges are known as lattice constant. However this is not necessary that all these axial length and angle are equal. to describe a whole crystal we use unit cell.