What Is a Lattice in Chemistry?

By Staff WriterLast Updated April 02, 2020

According to the Avogadro website, a lattice is a regular arrangement of particles. These particles can be atoms, ions or molecules.

When a substance is in its solid state, as a solid phase material, its particles are arranged into a lattice. These lattices are arranged to achieve minimum stored energy. The bonding of lattices is chemical in nature, and is an important factor in categorizing lattices.

Ions are bonded with ionic bonding, creating a giant ionic lattice.
Atoms are bonded with covalent bonding, creating a giant molecular lattice.
Molecules are bonded with covalent bonding (for atoms forming molecules) and intermolecular bonding (between separate molecules), creating a molecular lattice.