amorphous
Biology
(adjective)
lacking a definite form or clear shape
Chemistry
(adjective)
A solid that lacks the long-range order characteristics of a crystalline solid.
Examples of amorphous in the following topics:
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Amorphous Solids
- Solids can be divided into two classes: crystalline and amorphous.
- Most amorphous solids have some short-range order.
- However, amorphous solids are common to all subsets of solids.
- Samples of amorphous metallic glass are shown below.
- Most classes of solid can be found in an amorphous form.
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Characteristics of Condensation Polymers
- The high Tg and Tm values for the amorphous polymer Lexan are consistent with its brilliant transparency and glass-like rigidity.
- This cold-drawing procedure organizes randomly oriented crystalline domains, and also aligns amorphous domains so they become more crystalline.
- This contrasts with elastomeric polymers, for which the stretched or aligned morphology is unstable relative to the amorphous random coil morphology.
- Step-growth polymerization is also used for preparing a class of adhesives and amorphous solids called epoxy resins.
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Properties of Macromolecules
- In some cases the entire solid may be amorphous, composed entirely of coiled and tangled macromolecular chains.
- Natural rubber is a completely amorphous polymer.
- The following illustration shows a cross-linked section of amorphous rubber.
- Tg is the temperature below which amorphous domains lose the structural mobility of the polymer chains and become rigid glasses.
- Elastomers are amorphous polymers that have the ability to stretch and then return to their original shape at temperatures above Tg.
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Aluminosilicates
- These can be found as synthetic, amorphous, sodium aluminosilicates, a few naturally-occurring minerals, and synthetic zeolites.
- Synthetic, amorphous, sodium aluminosilicate is widely used as a food additive, E-554.
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Thermosetting vs. Thermoplastic Polymers
- Lignin is the amorphous matrix in which the cellulose fibers of wood are oriented.
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Properties of Carbon
- Allotropes of carbon are not limited to diamond and graphite, but also include buckyballs (fullerenes), amorphous carbon, glassy carbon, carbon nanofoam, nanotubes, and others.
- Some allotropes of carbon: a) diamond, b) graphite, c) lonsdaleite, d–f) fullerenes (C60, C540, C70); g) amorphous carbon, h) carbon nanotube.
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Structural Elements of Connective Tissue
- Elastic tissue is classified as "connective tissue proper. " The elastic fiber is formed from the elastic microfibril and amorphous elastin.
- The microfibril scaffolds and organizes the deposition of amorphous elastin.
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Allotropes of Carbon
- Even though amorphous carbon can be manufactured, there still exist some microscopic crystals of graphite-like or diamond-like carbon.
- The properties of amorphous carbon depend on the ratio of sp2 to sp3 hybridized bonds present in the material.
- Materials that are high in sp3 hybridized bonds are referred to as tetrahedral amorphous carbon (owing to the tetrahedral shape formed by sp3 hybridized bonds), or diamond-like carbon (owing to the similarity of many of its physical properties to those of diamond).
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Polysaccharide Biosynthesis
- They may be amorphous or even insoluble in water.
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Centrosome
- an amorphous mass of protein termed the pericentriolar material (PCM) .
- Centrosomes are composed of two orthogonally arranged centrioles surrounded by an amorphous mass of protein termed the pericentriolar material (PCM).