Amorphous Structure

An amorphous structure has no organization (not a crystalline structure), and the atomic structure resembles that of a liquid. Commonly, amorphous materials mentioned in the Materials Science Engineering field are amorphous soilds unless otherwise clarified otherwise. Most classes of solid materials can be found or prepared in an amorphous form.

Amorphous materials are characterized by atomic or molecular structures that are relatively complex and become ordered only with some difficultly. These materials are commonly prepared by rapidly cooling molten material. The cooling reduces the mobility of material's molecules before they can pack into a more thermodynamically favorable crystaline state. For instance, common window glass (Silicon Dioxide) is an amorphous ceramic, many polymers (such as polystyrene) are amorphous, and even foods such as cotton candy are amorphous solids.

Above is a picture of the structure of amorphous glass.