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A mineral is a naturally occurring, homogeneous solid with a specific chemical composition and a highly ordered atomic structure. Minerals (or crystals) have an internal arrangement of atoms that is both ordered and symmetrical, forming a three-dimensional network known as a crystal lattice. Halite as a structure where each of the two atom types, sodium and chlorine, forms its own face-centered cubic lattice, with these two lattices interpenetrating to create a 3D checkerboard pattern. In this structure, atoms (or lattice points) are positioned at the corners and at the center of each of the six faces of the cube. The side length of the halite unit cell is 0.564 nm. Ionic bonds form between sodium cations and chloride anions.
