triklinärt

Triklinärt is the Swedish term for the triclinic crystal system, one of the seven crystal systems in crystallography. It is defined by the lowest level of symmetry among the systems, typically lacking rotational or mirror symmetries in its most general form. The term is used to describe crystals whose internal arrangement cannot be simplified by orthogonal axes or special angles.

The triclinic unit cell is defined by three unequal edge lengths a, b, and c, and three unequal interaxial angles α, β, and γ, with none of the angles equal to 90 degrees. Consequently, all three axes are inclined to each other in arbitrary directions. The Bravais lattices for this system are primitive (P) and P-1, the latter incorporating an inversion center. In practice, this means triclinic crystals can exhibit a wide variety of shapes and internal geometries.

In terms of symmetry, triclinic crystals have the least symmetry of any crystal system. The possible space groups are P1 and P-1, corresponding to a point group of 1 or 1̄, respectively. There are no rotational, mirror, or glide symmetries beyond the inversion in the P-1 case.

Occurrence and properties: Crystals and many minerals can crystallize in the triclinic system, as can certain synthetic compounds. The low symmetry leads to highly anisotropic physical properties, with optical and mechanical behavior that varies greatly with direction. X-ray crystallography and diffraction patterns of triclinic crystals reflect their minimal symmetry, requiring determination of all unit-cell parameters to describe the structure accurately.