EOSC 118 Learning Objective Activity 2 Fall 2023

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Material Science

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Jan 9, 2024

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Learning Objective Activity #2 Name: John Doe Student Number: 420 Insert your LOA question below: Differentiate between isotropic and anisotropic materials. Type your answer below (between 250 and 500 words): There are two types of materials when it comes to property distribution within its crystal structure: materials that are isotropic, and materials that are anisotropic. Isotropic minerals have the same property distribution, meaning that all structural axes are of the same lengths and intersect each other in perpendicular form. Anisotropic materials, on the other hand, contain structural axes of different lengths and that are not perpendicular to one another. I will differentiate the two materials on three basis: their refractive indexes, their subtypes, and examples in gems and minerals. The fundamental characteristic that defines whether a material is isotropic or anisotropic is the number of refractive indexes it has. Refractive indexes quantify how much the speed at which light travels is slowed down when it passes through a solid object, such as minerals. Isotropic materials contain a singular refractive index; this means that when a single beam of light passes through a crystal structure, it does not split into different beams. Rather, light passes in a consistent speed through every axis, allowing the gemstone’s color to stay consistent at different angles (International Gem Society, 2023). With anisotropic materials, light tends to split while passing through the gemstone and will dissemble into multiple polarized beams (Pollard, 2020). As a result, light passes through each axis at different speeds, causing the gemstone to display different colors when the angle is changed (International Gem Society, 2023). Moreover, isotropic and refractive materials have different subtypes. Out of the seven primitive crystal systems, only isometric/cubic systems fall under isotropic materials. The other six systems, tetragonal, orthorhombic, hexagonal, triclinic, monoclinic, and rhombohedral systems are anisotropic. These six systems all have multiple refractive indexes and axes of various lengths.
Figure 1: Seven Primitive Crystal Systems (Rafferty, 2018). Lastly, another way to differentiate the two materials is by looking at their examples in gems and minerals. Isometric gems, like diamonds and garnet, are examples of isotropic materials (International Gem Society, 2023). A singular refractive index being the defining trait of isotropic gems is an explanation for why diamonds and garnets display the same hue when viewed from different angles. Rubies, sapphires, and tanzanites are examples of anisotropic gems (International Gem Society, 2023). Word count (excluding image captions and references): 357 List the references other than the course content that you used below. Use the APA reference and citation style . References International Gem Society. (2023). What is Gemstone Pleochroism? https://www.gemsociety.org/article/what-is-gemstone-pleochroism/. Retrieved November 10, 2023, from https://www.igi.org/identifying-isotropic-vs-anisotropic-gemstones/
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