Meaning & use
amorphous sample
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Meaning
nouncountabletechnicalspecialist
A quantity of material in which the atoms or molecules are not arranged in a regular repeating pattern.
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'an amorphous sample' or 'two amorphous samples'.
Patterns
- an amorphous sample of something
- analyze an amorphous sample
The glass is an amorphous sample, so its X-ray pattern shows broad humps instead of sharp peaks.
Scientists cooled the liquid quickly to produce an amorphous sample for the experiment.
Unlike a crystal, an amorphous sample does not have a sharp melting point.
Word forms
| plural | amorphous samples |
|---|
Common combinations
- amorphous solid
- Glass is a common amorphous solid.
- amorphous material
- The team studied an amorphous material made of silicon and hydrogen.
- amorphous phase
- The polymer contains both a crystalline and an amorphous phase.
- amorphous structure
- The amorphous structure gives the metal useful magnetic properties.
Synonyms and how they differ
- non-crystalline sample
- This is a more general term; it means the sample lacks crystal order, but it may still have some short-range order.
- glassy sample
- This fits when the amorphous material was formed by rapid cooling from a liquid, like glass.
Opposites
Word family
- amorphous adjective
- Having no regular shape or structure.
- amorphously adverb
- In a way that lacks a clear shape or structure.
Commonly confused: amorphous sample or amorphous?
amorphous sample vs amorphous
The adjective 'amorphous' can describe anything shapeless or disorganized, while 'amorphous sample' is a technical term for a specific material state.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'amorphous sample' correctly?
Choose one answer.
An amorphous sample lacks regular atomic order, so it does not give sharp diffraction peaks (An is wrong) and is not formed by slow cooling to make crystals (B is wrong). It is a solid, not a liquid with a definite shape (D is wrong).
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “amorphous sample”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.