Crystal structure of metals/ Crystal lattice and unit cell

All metals in solid state have a crystalline structure. When describing the structure of metals the term crystal lattice is used. Crystal lattice is an imaginary spatial grid, various places of which, for example, corners and spaces between corners contain metal atoms. The smallest unit of the crystal lattice, reflecting the structure of the metal, is called unit cell. In a body-centered cubic crystal structure (briefly BCC) atoms are located at eight cell corners and a single atom at the cube center. Some of the metals having this crystal structure are chromium, tungsten, molybdenum. Another metallic crystal structure is called a face-centered cubic crystal structure (briefly FCC). It has a unit cell with atoms located at each of the corners and the centers of all the cube faces. Aluminum, copper, nickel exhibit a face-centered cubic crystal structure. The third crystal structure to be discussed is termed hexagonal close-packed crystal structure (briefly HCP). Atoms are located at the vertices and c