Monoclinic system

The monoclinic system is a crystal system of which the unit cell is an inclined prism on a lozenge-shaped base, the clinorhombic prism. The three axes have different lengths and only two angles are equal to 90 degrees (alpha, beta); the third is characteristic of the mineral species. There are three crystal classes in this system.

The monoclinic system is one of the seven lattice systems, along with:

• the triclinic system;
• the orthorhombic system;
• the tetragonal system;
• the rhombohedral system;
• the hexagonal system;
• the cubic system.