What+is+a+ceramic?

​​ // Ceramics //

//What are they? // "Ceramics are defined as heat-resistant, nonmetallic, inorganic solids that are (generally) made up of compounds formed from metallic and nonmetallic elements."

//Though there are two types of ceramics, traditional and advanced, my objective is to explain the advanced ceramics. Advanced ceramics consist of carbides, nitrides, "and many other materials, including the mixed oxide ceramics that act as superconductors." // **How are they prepared? ** 1. Starts with powdered material 2. The powered materials are heated to form products 3. The product displays different characteristics What Kind of Bonds Can They Have? -polar -ionic -polar covalent Common Misunderstanding Though glasses and ceramics are different, glasses are often considered a type of ceramic. The differences between the two are that "ceramics have a crystalline structure and glasses contains impurities that prevent crystallization." "Ceramics usually have high, well-defined melting points and glass usually tends to soften over a range of temperatures before becoming a liquid."The structure of glass is similar to the structure of liquid in the sense that it is amorphous. The thing that is often misunderstood is that even though glass holds some of the same properties as ceramics, including being "consist of many tiny crystalline regions within a noncrystaline matrix," glasses and ceramics are different. 
 * The chemical bond depends on the composition of the ceramic.

This is a picture of silicon nitride.

This is a picture of aluminum oxide.

Jones, Loretta L. "Ceramics." __Chemistry: Foundations and Applications__. Ed. J. J. Lagowski. Vol. 1. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004. 6 pp. 4 vols. __Gale Virtual Reference Library__. Gale. Patrick F Taylor Science & Tech Academy. 12 Nov. 2009 .
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http://www.ceramiclover.com

By: Monet Houston