Quartz Atomic Structure

thingiverse

This is the atomic structure of quartz, a low-pressure polymorph of SiO2. In each tetrahedron, a silicon atom sits at the center and four oxygen atoms occupy the vertices. By printing this model, you can grasp the characteristics of quartz structure such as: - A network made by chains of tetrahedron that share the vertices - Helical symmetry (120° rotation with 1/3 translation along c-axis) "1/3" corresponds to a single tetrahedra and c-axis is a vertical line - Large voids anywhere in quartz This STL file is created by Blender using a self-made Python script. All atoms are supported by cylinders to prevent automatic supports, which can be cumbersome to remove on my 3D printer.