

While crystallographers were working on crystals, chemists were developing atomic theory. This model has passed the test of time and is accepted as the atomic arrangement in anhydrite today.

Blue spheres are Ca +2 ions and yellow tetrahedra are sulfate (SO 4) groups. Wasastjerna in 1925 based on X-ray studies. This arrangement was first described by J.A. Figure 13.2 shows the arrangement of atoms in anhydrite (CaSO 4). Within a few decades after the discovery and development of X-ray diffraction techniques, most of the basic principles of crystal structures were well known. Before their pioneering work, scientists could not test competing hypotheses for the nature of crystal structures. We cannot overstate the importance of the discover of X-rays and the subsequent studies by Röntgen, von Laue, and the Braggs.

