title: Cape Horn

text: At the time it was discovered, the Horn was believed to be the southernmost point of Tierra del Fuego; the unpredictable violence of weather and sea conditions in the Drake Passage made exploration difficult, and it was only in 1624 that the Horn was discovered to be an island. It is a telling testament to the difficulty of conditions there that Antarctica, only away across the Drake Passage, was discovered only as recently as 1820, despite the passage having been used as a major shipping route for 200 years.


title: Cape Horn

text: From the 18th to the early 20th centuries, Cape Horn was a part of the clipper routes which carried much of the world's trade. Sailing ships sailed round the Horn carrying wool, grain, and gold from Australia back to Europe; these included the windjammers in the heyday of the Great Grain Race of the 1930s. Much trade was carried around the Horn between Europe and the Far East; and trade and passenger ships travelled between the coasts of the United States via the Horn. The Horn exacted a heavy toll from shipping, however, owing to the extremely hazardous combination of conditions there.


title: Cape Horn

text: The only facilities in the vicinity able to service or supply a ship, or provide medical care, were in the Falkland Islands. The businesses there were so notorious for price-gouging that damaged ships were sometimes abandoned at Port Stanley.


title: Cape Horn

text: While most companies switched to steamers and later used the Panama canal, German steel-hulled sailing ships like the Flying P-Liners were designed since the 1890s to withstand the weather conditions around the Horn, as they specialized in the South American nitrate trade and later the Australian grain trade. None of them were lost travelling around the Horn, but some, like the mighty "Preußen", were victims of collisions in the busy English channel.


title: Cape Horn

text: Traditionally, a sailor who had rounded the Horn was entitled to wear a gold loop earring—in the left ear, the one which had faced the Horn in a typical eastbound passage—and to dine with one foot on the table; a sailor who had also rounded the Cape of Good Hope could place both feet on the table.


title: Cape Horn

text: One particular historic attempt to round the Horn, that of HMS "Bounty" in 1788, has been immortalized in history due to the subsequent Mutiny on the Bounty. This abortive Horn voyage has been portrayed (with varying historical accuracy) in three major motion pictures about Captain William Bligh's mission to transport breadfruit plants from Tahiti to Jamaica. The Bounty made only 85 miles of headway in 31 days of east-to-west sailing, before giving up by reversing course and going around Africa. Although the 1984 movie portrayed another decision to go round the Horn as a precipitating factor in the mutiny (this time west-to-east after collecting the breadfruits in the South Pacific), in fact that was never contemplated out of concern for the effect of the low temperatures near the Horn on the plants.


title: Cape Horn

text: The transcontinental railroads in North America, as well as the Panama Canal that opened in 1914 in Central America, led to the gradual decrease in use of the Horn for trade. As steamships replaced sailing ships, Flying P-Liner "Pamir" became the last commercial sailing ship to round Cape Horn laden with cargo, carrying grain from Port Victoria, Australia, to Falmouth, England, in 1949.


title: Cape Horn

text: Cape Horn has been an icon of sailing culture for centuries; it has featured in sea shanties and in many books about sailing. One of the classic accounts of a working ship in the age of sail is "Two Years Before the Mast", by Richard Henry Dana Jr., in which the author describes an arduous trip from Boston to California via Cape Horn:


title: Cape Horn

text: After nine more days of headwinds and unabated storms, Dana reported that his ship, the "Pilgrim" finally cleared the turbulent waters of Cape Horn and turned northwards.


title: Cape Horn

text: Charles Darwin, in "The Voyage of the Beagle", a journal of the five-year expedition upon which he based "The Origin of Species", described his 1832 encounter with the Horn:


title: Cape Horn

text: William Jones, writing of his experience in 1905 as a fifteen-year-old apprentice on one of the last commercial sailing ships, noted the contrast between his ship, which would take two months and the lives of three sailors to round the Horn, and birds adapted to the region:


title: Cape Horn

text: Alan Villiers, a modern-day expert in traditional sailing ships, wrote many books about traditional sailing, including "By way of Cape Horn". More recent sailors have taken on the Horn singly, such as Vito Dumas, who wrote "Alone Through The Roaring Forties" based on his round-the-world voyage; or with small crews.


title: Cape Horn

text: Bernard Moitessier made two significant voyages round the Horn; once with his wife Françoise, described in "Cape Horn: The Logical Route", and once single-handed. His book "The Long Way" tells the story of this latter voyage, and of a peaceful night-time passage of the Horn: "The little cloud underneath the moon has moved to the right. I look... there it is, so close, less than away and right under the moon. And nothing remains but the sky and the moon playing with the Horn. I look. I can hardly believe it. So small and so huge. A hillock, pale and tender in the moonlight; a colossal rock, hard as diamond."


title: Cape Horn

text: And John Masefield wrote: "Cape Horn, that tramples beauty into wreck / And crumples steel and smites the strong man dumb."


title: Cape Horn

text: A memorial presented in Robert FitzRoy's bicentenary (2005) commemorates his landing on Cape Horn on 19 April 1830.


title: Cape Horn

text: In 1980 Keith F. Critchlow directed and produced the documentary film "Ghosts of Cape Horn", with the participation and archaeological consulting of famous underwater archaeologist Peter Throckmorton.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyrood. The Parliament is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs), elected for five-year terms under the additional member system: 73 MSPs represent individual geographical constituencies elected by the plurality (first-past-the-post) system, while a further 56 are returned as list members from eight additional member regions. Each region elects seven party-list MSPs. Each region elects 15 to 17 MSPs in total. The most recent general election to the Parliament was held on 6 May 2021, with the Scottish National Party winning a plurality.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: The original Parliament of Scotland was the national legislature of the independent Kingdom of Scotland and existed from the early 13th century until the Kingdom of Scotland merged with the Kingdom of England under the Acts of Union 1707 to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. As a consequence, the Parliament of Scotland ceased to exist, while the Parliament of England, which sat at Westminster, was subsumed into the Parliament of Great Britain. In practice, all of the traditions, procedures, and standing orders of the English parliament were retained, with the addition of Scottish members in both the Commons and Lords.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: Following a referendum in 1997, in which the Scottish electorate voted for devolution, the powers of the devolved legislature were specified by the Scotland Act 1998. The Act delineates the legislative competence of the Parliament – the areas in which it can make laws – by explicitly specifying powers that are "reserved" to the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Scottish Parliament has the power to legislate in all areas that are not explicitly reserved to Westminster. The UK Parliament retains the ability to amend the terms of reference of the Scottish Parliament, and can extend or reduce the areas in which it can make laws. The first meeting of the new Parliament took place on 12 May 1999.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: The legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament has been amended numerous times since then. The Scotland Act 2012 and Scotland Act 2016 expanded the Parliament's powers, especially over taxation and welfare. The United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 seeks to restrict the exercise of devolved competences both legally and practically. Its primary purpose is to constrain the capacity of the devolved institutions to use their regulatory autonomy by imposing requirements of market non-discrimination and mutual recognition. Its effect is to undermine the freedom of action, regulatory competence and authority of the Parliament, limiting its ability to make different economic or social choices to those made by Westminster.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: Before the Treaty of Union 1707 united the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England into a new state called "Great Britain", Scotland had an independent parliament known as the Parliament of Scotland. Initial Scottish proposals in the negotiation over the Union suggested a devolved Parliament be retained in Scotland, but this was not accepted by the English negotiators.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: For the next three hundred years, Scotland was directly governed by the Parliament of Great Britain and the subsequent Parliament of the United Kingdom, both seated at Westminster, and the lack of a Parliament of Scotland remained an important element in Scottish national identity. Suggestions for a 'devolved' Parliament were made before 1914, but were shelved due to the outbreak of the First World War. A sharp rise in nationalism in Scotland during the late 1960s fuelled demands for some form of home rule or complete independence, and in 1969 prompted the incumbent Labour government of Harold Wilson to set up the Kilbrandon Commission to consider the British constitution. One of the principal objectives of the commission was to examine ways of enabling more self-government for Scotland, within the unitary state of the United Kingdom. Kilbrandon published his report in 1973 recommending the establishment of a directly elected Scottish Assembly to legislate for the majority of domestic Scottish affairs.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: During this time, the discovery of oil in the North Sea and the following "It's Scotland's oil" campaign of the Scottish National Party (SNP) resulted in rising support for Scottish independence, as well as the SNP. The party argued that the revenues from the oil were not benefitting Scotland as much as they should. The combined effect of these events led to Prime Minister Wilson committing his government to some form of devolved legislature in 1974. Under the terms of the Scotland Act 1978, an elected assembly would be set up in Edinburgh if the public approved it in a referendum be held on 1 March 1979. A narrow majority of 51.6% to 48.4% voted in favour of a Scottish Assembly, but the Act also required that at least 40% of the total electorate vote in favour of the proposal. As the turnout was only 63.6%, the vote in favour represented only 32.9% of the eligible voting population, and the Assembly was not established.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, demand for a Scottish Parliament grew, in part because the government of the United Kingdom was controlled by the Conservative Party, while Scotland itself elected relatively few Conservative MPs. In the aftermath of the 1979 referendum defeat, the Campaign for a Scottish Assembly was initiated as a pressure group, leading to the 1989 Scottish Constitutional Convention with various organisations such as Scottish churches, political parties and representatives of industry taking part. Publishing its blueprint for devolution in 1995, the Convention provided much of the basis for the structure of the Parliament.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: Devolution continued to form part of the platform of the Labour Party which won power under Tony Blair in May 1997. In September 1997, the Scottish devolution referendum was put to the Scottish electorate and secured a majority in favour of the establishment of a new devolved Scottish Parliament, with tax-varying powers, in Edinburgh. An election was held on 6 May 1999, and on 1 July of that year power was transferred from Westminster to the new Parliament.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: Since September 2004, the official home of the Scottish Parliament has been a new Scottish Parliament Building, in the Holyrood area of Edinburgh. The Scottish Parliament building was designed by Spanish architect Enric Miralles in partnership with local Edinburgh Architecture firm RMJM which was led by Design Principal Tony Kettle. Some of the principal features of the complex include leaf-shaped buildings, a grass-roofed branch merging into adjacent parkland and gabion walls formed from the stones of previous buildings. Throughout the building there are many repeated motifs, such as shapes based on Raeburn's Skating Minister. Crow-stepped gables and the upturned boat skylights of the Garden Lobby, complete the unique architecture. Queen Elizabeth II opened the new building on 9 October 2004.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: While the permanent building at Holyrood was being constructed, a temporary home for the Parliament was found in Edinburgh. The General Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland on the Royal Mile was chosen to host the Parliament. Official photographs and television interviews were held in the courtyard adjoining the Assembly Hall, which is part of the School of Divinity of the University of Edinburgh. This building was vacated twice to allow for the meeting of the Church's General Assembly. In May 2000, the Parliament was temporarily relocated to the former Strathclyde Regional Council debating chamber in Glasgow, and to the University of Aberdeen in May 2002.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: After each election to the Scottish Parliament, at the beginning of each parliamentary session, Parliament elects one MSP to serve as Presiding Officer, the equivalent of the speaker in other legislatures, and two MSPs to serve as deputies. The Presiding Officer (currently Alison Johnstone) and deputies (currently Annabelle Ewing and Liam McArthur) are elected by a secret ballot of the 129 MSPs, which is the only secret ballot conducted in the Scottish Parliament. Principally, the role of the Presiding Officer is to chair chamber proceedings and the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. When chairing meetings of the Parliament, the Presiding Officer and his/her deputies must be politically impartial. During debates, the Presiding Officer (or the deputy) is assisted by the parliamentary clerks, who give advice on how to interpret the standing orders that govern the proceedings of meetings. A vote clerk sits in front of the Presiding Officer and operates the electronic voting equipment and chamber clocks.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: As a member of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, the Presiding Officer is responsible for ensuring that the Parliament functions effectively and has the staff, property and resources it requires to operate. Convening the Parliamentary Bureau, which allocates time and sets the work agenda in the chamber, is another of the roles of the Presiding Officer. Under the Standing Orders of the Parliament the Bureau consists of the Presiding Officer and one representative from each political party with five or more seats in the Parliament. Amongst the duties of the Bureau are to agree the timetable of business in the chamber, establish the number, remit and membership of parliamentary committees and regulate the passage of legislation (bills) through the Parliament. The Presiding Officer also represents the Scottish Parliament at home and abroad in an official capacity.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: The Presiding Officer controls debates by calling on members to speak. The Presiding Officer rules on points of order raised by members, which are not subject to debate or appeal. The Presiding Officer may also discipline members who fail to observe the rules of the Parliament.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: The debating chamber of the Scottish Parliament has seating arranged in a hemicycle, a design which is common across European legislatures, intended to encourage consensus and compromise. There are 131 seats in the debating chamber. Of the total 131 seats, 129 are occupied by the Parliament's elected MSPs and two are seats for the Scottish Law Officers—the Lord Advocate and the Solicitor General for Scotland, who are not elected members of the Parliament but are members of the Scottish Government. As such, the Law Officers may attend and speak in the plenary meetings of the Parliament but, as they are not elected MSPs, cannot vote.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: Members are able to sit anywhere in the debating chamber, but typically sit in their party groupings. The First Minister, Scottish cabinet ministers and Law officers sit in the front row, in the middle section of the chamber. The largest party in the Parliament sits in the middle of the semicircle, with opposing parties on either side. The Presiding Officer, parliamentary clerks and officials sit opposite members at the front of the debating chamber.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: In front of the Presiding Officers' desk is the parliamentary mace, which is made from silver and inlaid with gold panned from Scottish rivers and inscribed with the words: "Wisdom", "Compassion", "Justice" and "Integrity". The words "There shall be a Scottish Parliament", which are the first words of the Scotland Act, are inscribed around the head of the mace, which has a ceremonial role in the meetings of Parliament, representing the authority of the Parliament to make laws. Presented to the Scottish Parliament by the Queen upon Parliament's official opening in July 1999, the mace is displayed in a glass case, suspended from the lid. At the beginning of each sitting in the chamber, the lid of the case is rotated so that the mace is above the glass, to symbolise that a full meeting of the Parliament is taking place.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: Parliament typically sits Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from early January to late June and from early September to mid December, with two-week recesses in April and October. Plenary meetings in the debating chamber usually take place on Wednesday afternoons from 2 pm to 6 pm and on Thursdays from 9:15 am to 6 pm. Chamber debates and committee meetings are open to the public. Entry is free, but booking in advance is recommended due to limited space. Parliament TV is a webcast and archive of Parliamentary business back to 2012. and on the BBC's parliamentary channel BBC Parliament. Proceedings are also recorded in text form, in print and online, in the "Official Report", which is the substantially verbatim transcript of parliamentary debates.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: Since September 2012, the first item of business on Tuesday afternoons is usually Time for Reflection at which a speaker addresses members for up to four minutes, sharing a perspective on issues of faith. This contrasts with the formal style of "Prayers", which is the first item of business in meetings of the House of Commons. Speakers are drawn from across Scotland and are chosen to represent the balance of religious beliefs according to the Scottish census. Invitations to address Parliament in this manner are determined by the Presiding Officer on the advice of the parliamentary bureau. Faith groups can make direct representations to the Presiding Officer to nominate speakers. Before September 2012, Time for reflection was held on Wednesday afternoons.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: The Presiding Officer (or Deputy Presiding Officer) decides who speaks in chamber debates and the amount of time for which they are allowed to speak. Normally, the Presiding Officer tries to achieve a balance between different viewpoints and political parties when selecting members to speak. Typically, ministers or party leaders open debates, with opening speakers given between 5 and 20 minutes, and succeeding speakers allocated less time. The Presiding Officer can reduce speaking time if a large number of members wish to participate in the debate. Debate is more informal than in some parliamentary systems. Members may call each other directly by name, rather than by constituency or cabinet position, and hand clapping is allowed. Speeches to the chamber are normally delivered in English, but members may use Scots, Gaelic, or any other language with the agreement of the Presiding Officer. The Scottish Parliament has conducted debates in the Gaelic language.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: Each sitting day, normally at 5 pm, MSPs decide on all the motions and amendments that have been moved that day. This "Decision Time" is heralded by the sounding of the division bell, which is heard throughout the Parliamentary campus and alerts MSPs who are not in the chamber to return and vote. At Decision Time, the Presiding Officer puts questions on the motions and amendments by reading out the name of the motion or amendment as well as the proposer and asking ""Are we all agreed?"", to which the chamber first votes orally. If there is audible dissent, the Presiding Officer announces ""There will be a division"" and members vote by means of electronic consoles on their desks. Each MSP has a unique access card with a microchip which, when inserted into the console, identifies them and allows them to vote. As a result, the outcome of each division is known in seconds.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: The outcome of most votes can be predicted since political parties normally instruct members which way to vote. Parties entrust some MSPs, known as whips, with the task of ensuring that party members vote according to the party line. MSPs do not tend to vote against such instructions, since those who do are unlikely to reach higher political ranks in their parties. Errant members can be deselected as official party candidates during future elections, and, in serious cases, may be expelled from their parties outright. Thus, as with many Parliaments, the independence of Members of the Scottish Parliament tends to be low, and backbench rebellions by members who are discontent with their party's policies are rare. In some circumstances, however, parties announce "free votes", which allows Members to vote as they please. This is typically done on moral issues.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: Immediately after Decision Time a "Members Debate" is held, which lasts for 45 minutes. Members Business is a debate on a motion proposed by an MSP who is not a Scottish minister. Such motions are on issues which may be of interest to a particular area such as a member's own constituency, an upcoming or past event or any other item which would otherwise not be accorded official parliamentary time. As well as the proposer, other members normally contribute to the debate. The relevant minister, whose department the debate and motion relate to "winds up" the debate by speaking after all other participants.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: Much of the work of the Scottish Parliament is done in committee. The role of committees is stronger in the Scottish Parliament than in other parliamentary systems, partly as a means of strengthening the role of backbenchers in their scrutiny of the government and partly to compensate for the fact that there is no revising chamber. The principal role of committees in the Scottish Parliament is to take evidence from witnesses, conduct inquiries and scrutinise legislation. Committee meetings take place on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday morning when Parliament is sitting. Committees can also meet at other locations throughout Scotland.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: Committees comprise a small number of MSPs, with membership reflecting the balance of parties across Parliament. There are different committees with their functions set out in different ways. Mandatory Committees are committees which are set down under the Scottish Parliament's standing orders, which govern their remits and proceedings. The current Mandatory Committees in the fourth Session of the Scottish Parliament are: Public Audit; Equal Opportunities; European and External Relations; Finance; Public Petitions; Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments; and Delegated Powers and Law Reform.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: Subject Committees are established at the beginning of each parliamentary session, and again the members on each committee reflect the balance of parties across Parliament. Typically each committee corresponds with one (or more) of the departments (or ministries) of the Scottish Government. The current Subject Committees in the fourth Session are: Economy, Energy and Tourism; Education and Culture; Health and Sport; Justice; Local Government and Regeneration; Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment; Welfare Reform; and Infrastructure and Capital Investment.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: A further type of committee is normally set up to scrutinise private bills submitted to the Scottish Parliament by an outside party or promoter who is not a member of the Scottish Parliament or Scottish Government. Private bills normally relate to large-scale development projects such as infrastructure projects that require the use of land or property. Private Bill Committees have been set up to consider legislation on issues such as the development of the Edinburgh Tram Network, the Glasgow Airport Rail Link, the Airdrie–Bathgate rail link and extensions to the National Gallery of Scotland.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: The Scotland Act 1998, which was passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom and given royal assent by Queen Elizabeth II on 19 November 1998, governs the functions and role of the Scottish Parliament and delimits its legislative competence. Since the establishment of the Parliament, there have been a number of changes to its legislative competence.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: The Parliament is able to debate any issue (including those reserved to Westminster) but is unable to make laws on issues that are outside its legislative competence. As the Scottish Parliament is able to make laws on the areas constitutionally devolved to it, the legislative process begins with bills (draft laws) which are presented to Parliament. Bills can be introduced to Parliament in a number of ways; the Scottish Government can introduce new laws or amendments to existing laws as a bill; a committee of the Parliament can present a bill in one of the areas under its remit; a member of the Scottish Parliament can introduce a bill as a private member; or a private bill can be submitted to Parliament by an outside proposer. Most draft laws are government bills introduced by ministers in the governing party (or parties). Bills pass through Parliament in a number of stages before receiving royal assent, whereupon they become Acts of the Scottish Parliament.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: The Scotland Act 2012 and the Scotland Act 2016 extended the devolved competencies, including the introduction of taxation powers. The United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 seeks to restrict the operation of devolved powers. The latter legislation, passed under the government of Boris Johnson, gives UK ministers extended powers to enforce mutual recognition of regulations across the UK, and the exemptions permitted for the devolved administrations are significantly less extensive than previous exemptions under the EU Single Market rules. On paper, it does not particularly change devolved competences, but it both legally and practically restrains the legislative competence of the Parliament. The business secretary tacitly acknowledged this fact in the impact assessment that the BEIS department was obliged to publish alongside the bill, which states: "The final cost of this legislation is the potentially reduced ability for different parts of the UK to achieve local policy benefits. While this legislation does not constrain the ability of different parts of the UK to introduce distinct policies, to the extent that those policies may be enforceable on a reduced number of businesses might make it harder to realise fully the benefits of those policies." Although the UK Government stated on publication that the proposed bill sought to "protect the integrity of the UK's single market", the legislation has been heavily criticised for its dealings with the devolved nations. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon called the bill a "full frontal assault on devolution". The legislation undermines the freedom of action, regulatory competence and authority of the Parliament, limiting its ability to make different economic or social choices from those made in Westminster, and to focus and plan investment in infrastructure in Scotland.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: Under the terms of the Scotland Acts, the Parliament of the United Kingdom agreed to devolve some of its responsibilities over Scottish domestic policy to the Scottish Parliament. The Scotland Act 1998 enabled the Scottish Parliament to pass primary legislation on these issues, and to hold the Scottish Government to account. Although the Westminster Parliament retains the authority to legislate on devolved matters, under the Sewell convention it is understood that it will not do so without the consent of the Scottish Parliament.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: All matters that are not specifically stated in Schedule 5 to the Scotland Act as reserved matters are automatically devolved to the Scottish Parliament. The Scottish Parliament has powers over areas such as:


title: Scottish Parliament

text: Reserved matters are subjects that are outside the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament and are reserved to the United Kingdom Parliament. These include:


title: Scottish Parliament

text: The party, or parties, that hold the majority of seats in the Parliament forms the Scottish Government. In contrast to many other parliamentary systems, Parliament elects a First Minister from a number of candidates at the beginning of each parliamentary term (after a general election). Any member can put their name forward to be First Minister, and a vote is taken by all members of Parliament. Normally, the leader of the largest party is returned as First Minister, and head of the Scottish Government. Theoretically, Parliament also elects the Scottish Ministers who form the government of Scotland and sit in the Scottish cabinet, but such ministers are, in practice, appointed to their roles by the First Minister. Junior ministers, who do not attend cabinet, are also appointed to assist Scottish ministers in their departments. Most ministers and their juniors are drawn from amongst the elected MSPs, with the exception of Scotland's Chief Law Officers: the Lord Advocate and the Solicitor General. Whilst the First Minister chooses the ministers – and may decide to remove them at any time – the formal appointment or dismissal is made by the Sovereign.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: Under the Scotland Act 1998, ordinary general elections for the Scottish Parliament are held on the first Thursday in May every four years (1999, 2003, 2007 and so on). The date of the poll may be varied by up to one month either way by the Monarch on the proposal of the Presiding Officer. If the Parliament itself resolves that it should be dissolved (with at least two-thirds of the Members voting in favour), or if the Parliament fails to nominate one of its members to be First Minister within 28 days of a General Election or of the position becoming vacant, the Presiding Officer proposes a date for an extraordinary general election and the Parliament is dissolved by the Queen by royal proclamation. Extraordinary general elections are in addition to ordinary general elections, unless held less than six months before the due date of an ordinary general election, in which case they supplant it. The following ordinary election reverts to the first Thursday in May, a multiple of four years after 1999 (i.e., 5 May 2011, 7 May 2015, etc.).


title: Scottish Parliament

text: Several procedures enable the Scottish Parliament to scrutinise the Government. The First Minister or members of the cabinet can deliver statements to Parliament upon which MSPs are invited to question. For example, at the beginning of each parliamentary year, the First Minister delivers a statement to the chamber setting out the Government's legislative programme for the forthcoming year. After the statement has been delivered, the leaders of the opposition parties and other MSPs question the First Minister on issues related to the substance of the statement.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: Parliamentary time is also set aside for question periods in the debating chamber. A "General Question Time" takes place on a Thursday between 11:40 a.m. and noon where members can direct questions to any member of the Scottish Government. At 2:30 pm, a 40-minute-long themed "Question Time" takes place, where members can ask questions of ministers in departments that are selected for questioning that sitting day, such as health and justice or education and transport. Between noon and 12:30 p.m. on Thursdays, when Parliament is sitting, First Minister's Question Time takes place. This gives members an opportunity to question the First Minister directly on issues under their jurisdiction.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: Members who wish to ask general or themed questions, or questions of the First Minister, must lodge them with parliamentary clerks beforehand and selections are made by the Presiding Officer. Written questions may also be submitted by members to ministers. Written questions and answers are published in the "Official Report".


title: Scottish Parliament

text: The first session of Leaders’ Virtual Question Time, or virtual First Minister's Questions, was held on 9 April 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: Elections for the Scottish Parliament were amongst the first in Britain to use a Mixed-member proportional representation (MMP) system. The system is a form of the additional member method (AMS) of proportional representation, and is better known as such in Britain. Under the system, voters are given two votes: one for a specific candidate and one for a political party.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: Of the 129 MSPs, 73 are elected to represent first past the post constituencies and are known as "Constituency MSPs". Voters choose one member to represent the constituency, and the member with most votes is returned as a constituency MSP. The 73 Scottish Parliament constituencies shared the same boundaries as the UK Parliament constituencies in Scotland, prior to the 2005 reduction in the number of Scottish MPs, with the exception of Orkney and Shetland which each return their own constituency MSP. Currently, the average Scottish Parliament constituency comprises 55,000 electors. Given the geographical distribution of population in Scotland, this results in constituencies of a smaller area in the Central Lowlands, where the bulk of Scotland's population live, and much larger constituency areas in the north and west of the country, which have a low population density. The island archipelagos of Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles comprise a much smaller number of electors, due to their dispersed population. If a constituency MSP resigns from Parliament, this triggers a by-election in his or her constituency, where a replacement MSP is returned by the plurality system.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: The remaining 56 MSPs, called "List MSPs", are elected by an additional members system, which seeks to make the overall results more proportional, countering any distortions in the constituency results. Seven list MSPs are elected from each of eight electoral regions, of which constituencies are sub-divisions:


title: Scottish Parliament

text: Each political party draws up a list of candidates standing in each electoral region, from which the list MSPs are elected. Independents can also stand in regions, in which case they are treated as a one-person "list". Candidates can stand for both a constituency and a list; should they be elected for a constituency, this takes precedence and they are skipped over when apportioning seats from their party list. If a list MSP later leaves the Parliament, the next person on the resigning MSPs' party's list takes the seat. Should a list MSP leave their party, however, they retain their seat and are not replaced. If an independent list MSP leaves the Parliament, they are not replaced and the seat is left vacant until the next general election.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: The total number of seats in the Parliament is allocated to parties proportionally to the number of votes received in the second vote of the ballot using the d'Hondt method. For example, to determine who is awarded the first list seat, the number of list votes cast for each party is divided by one plus the number of seats the party won in the region (at this point just constituency seats). The party with the highest quotient is awarded the seat, which is then added to its constituency seats in allocating the second seat. This is repeated iteratively until all available list seats are allocated. As the allocation of seats to parties mirrors the popular vote, it is commonplace for the most successful party in the election not to win an outright majority of the seats, thereby requiring them to seek some form and level of cross-party support for their initiatives in government. Nonetheless, the 2011 election saw the SNP become the first–and to date, only–party to win a majority government.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: As in the House of Commons, a number of qualifications apply to being an MSP. Such qualifications were introduced under the House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975 and the British Nationality Act 1981. Specifically, members must be over the age of 18 and must be a citizen of the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, one of the countries in the Commonwealth of Nations, a citizen of a British overseas territory, or a European Union citizen resident in the UK. Members of the police and the armed forces are disqualified from sitting in the Scottish Parliament as elected MSPs, and similarly, civil servants and members of foreign legislatures are disqualified. An individual may not sit in the Scottish Parliament if he or she is judged to be insane under the terms of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003. There is no legal prohibition on holding a dual mandate, sitting in both the Scottish Parliament and the House of Commons. However, while several members of the original Scottish Parliament held seats at Westminster, it is now rare; since 2011, only one MSP has served concurrently as an MP for a significant period of time.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: Elections for the Scottish Parliament are for all 129 seats using the Additional Member System. There have been six elections to the Parliament, in 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2016 and 2021.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: The latest Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday 6 May 2021. Under the Scotland Act 1998, an ordinary general election to the Scottish Parliament would normally have been held on the first Thursday in May four years after the 2016 election, i.e. in May 2020. This would have coincided with the proposed date of the next United Kingdom general election until an early UK election was called in 2017. In November 2015, the Scottish Government published a Scottish Elections (Dates) Bill, which proposed to extend the term of the Parliament to five years. That Bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 25 February 2016 and received Royal Assent on 30 March 2016, setting the new date for the election as 6 May 2021.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: Citizens of the UK, Ireland, EU member states and other countries who have permission to enter or remain in the UK (or who do not need such permission), and are resident in Scotland, are entitled to vote. The minimum voting age is 16. This differs from elections to the Westminster parliament, which are restricted to citizens of the UK, Ireland and qualifying Commonwealth citizens, with a minimum voting age of 18. Citizens of other non-Commonwealth EU member states who are resident in Scotland have been entitled to vote in elections to the Scottish Parliament since 1999. Since this date, the franchise has been further extended, with a two-thirds majority being required to make changes to the franchise under the Scotland Act 2016. From the 2016 election, the franchise for Scottish Parliament elections was expanded to include 16- and 17-year-olds. In 2020, the Scottish Parliament voted to extend the right to vote in Scotland to all foreign nationals with leave to remain (limited or indefinite).


title: Scottish Parliament

text: The resignation of Henry McLeish as First Minister, brought on by an office expenses scandal, generated controversy in the first years of the Scottish Parliament. Various academics have written on how the Scottish Parliament can be improved as a governing institution.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: As a consequence of the establishment of the Scottish Parliament, Scottish MPs sitting in the UK House of Commons are able to vote on domestic legislation that applies only to England, Wales, and Northern Ireland – whilst English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish Westminster MPs are unable to vote on the domestic legislation of the Scottish Parliament. This phenomenon is known as the West Lothian question and has led to criticism. Following the Conservative victory in the 2015 UK election, standing orders of the House of Commons were changed to give MPs representing English constituencies a new "veto" over laws only affecting England, known as English votes for English laws. The mechanism was abolished in 2021.


title: Scottish Parliament

text: Parties such as the Abolish the Scottish Parliament Party, the UK Independence Party (UKIP), and Scottish Unionist Party (SUP) have advocated for abolishing the Scottish Parliament.


title: Robert Ben Rhoades

text: Robert Benjamin Rhoades (born November 22, 1945), also known as The Truck Stop Killer, is an American serial killer and rapist. In 1994, Rhoades was convicted of the first degree murder of Regina Kay Walters and was slated to be tried for two more before charges were dropped due to the wishes of victims' families. Rhoades is additionally suspected of torturing, raping, and killing more than 50 women between 1975 and 1990, based on data about his truck routes and women who went missing during those years and who met the profile of his preferred victims. At the time he was caught, Rhoades claimed to have engaged in these activities for 15 years.


title: Robert Ben Rhoades

text: Robert Benjamin Rhoades was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa in 1945, but it is uncertain as to exactly where he was raised. He was raised by his mother in the early years of his life, as his father was a soldier in the United States Army and was stationed in West Germany. Rhoades was attending elementary school when his father returned from duty overseas. After his father was discharged from the military, he found work as a firefighter.


title: Robert Ben Rhoades

text: By all reliable accounts, Rhoades' early life was relatively normal, aside from unspecified social problems in his formative years. He was an active participant in the extracurricular activities of his attended schools, and involved himself with various sports and other programs, including gridiron football, wrestling, choir and French club. Rhoades' criminal involvement during his high school years were only notable for an arrest in 1961, at age 16, for tampering with a vehicle, along with an arrest for public fighting in 1962 at age 17.


title: Robert Ben Rhoades

text: After graduating from Thomas Jefferson High School in Council Bluffs in 1964, he joined the Marine Corps. During the same year, his father was arrested for molesting a 12-year-old girl, and subsequently committed suicide while awaiting trial. A few years later, in 1967 or 1968, Rhoades was dishonorably discharged from the military for his involvement in a robbery.


title: Robert Ben Rhoades

text: After his dishonorable discharge from the Marines at some time in the late 1960s, he attended college but dropped out. He later attempted to join a law enforcement agency, but was likely rejected for his past dishonorable discharge from the Marine Corps. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Rhoades married three times, having a son with his first wife. Subsequently, he found work in stores, supermarkets, warehouses and restaurants. Eventually, he became a long haul trucker.


title: Robert Ben Rhoades

text: During the 1980s, Rhoades developed interests and hobbies, amongst which included involving himself in the BDSM scene. It was also during this time he allegedly verbally, physically and sexually abused his third wife, Deborah Rhoades.


title: Robert Ben Rhoades

text: His first confirmed victims were Patricia Candace Walsh and her husband, Douglas Zyskowski, in January 1990. The couple were hitchhiking when Rhoades picked them up in his truck while on a long-haul journey. He immediately killed Zyskowski and dumped his body in Sutton County, Texas, where it was later found. He was not identified until 1992. He kept Walsh for over a week. During this time, he tortured and raped her numerous times before dumping her body in Millard County, Utah.


title: Robert Ben Rhoades

text: Almost a month after Walsh's death, he abducted an 18-year-old victim, Shana Holts, who escaped and informed police. When Rhoades was detained, the victim declined to press charges, feeling that she would not be believed despite extensive evidence. In her statement to police she said that "I don't see any good in filing charges. It's just going to be my word against his. If there was any evidence, I would file. I would file charges and sue him."


title: Robert Ben Rhoades

text: It was later asserted that she was fearful of Rhoades after enduring two weeks in his truck. Rhoades had converted the sleeper cab of his truck into his own personal torture chamber where he kept women, sometimes for weeks, torturing and raping them.


title: Robert Ben Rhoades

text: Regina Kay Walters, 14, was found nude and badly decomposed, on September 29, 1990, in the loft of an abandoned barn near Greenville. She had been missing since February 3, 1990, when she ran away from her home in Pasadena with her boyfriend, Ricky Lee Jones, 20. An autopsy revealed she had been strangled to death sometime in early March. A photograph of Walters being tortured was found in the home of Rhoades.


title: Robert Ben Rhoades

text: On May 26, 1990, the partial skeleton of Ricky Lee Jones was found near Harleton. He had been shot in the head.


title: Robert Ben Rhoades

text: In the early morning of April 1, 1990, Trooper Mike Miller of the Arizona Highway Patrol found a truck with its hazard lights on at the side of I-10 near Casa Grande, Arizona. When he investigated inside the cab, he discovered a nude woman, later identified as Kathleen Vine, handcuffed and screaming. There was also a male present who identified himself as the driver of the truck. After failing to talk his way out of the situation, Rhoades turned over a gun which had been on his person. He was arrested and charged with aggravated assault, sexual assault, and unlawful imprisonment. He was left handcuffed in Miller's patrol car, but nearly escaped.


title: Robert Ben Rhoades

text: After further investigation, the arresting detective, Rick Barnhart, was able to make a connection to the Houston case and noticed a pattern stretching over the course of at least five months. In executing a search warrant for Rhoades' home, police found photos of a nude teenager who was later identified as Walters, whose body was found in September 1990. Also present were photos of Walsh, whose body was discovered that October.


title: Robert Ben Rhoades

text: In 1994, Rhoades was convicted of the first degree murder of Regina Kay Walters and sentenced to life without parole at Menard Correctional Center in Chester, Illinois. He was extradited to Utah in 2005 to be tried for the deaths of Candace Walsh and Douglas Zyskowski; however, in accordance with the victims' families' requests, the charges were dropped in 2006, so that they would not be required to testify more than once (for both states) and he was returned to prison. Rhoades later was extradited to Texas for the murder of Walters and Jones where Rhoades, in exchange for dropping the death penalty, pleaded guilty to their deaths and received a second life sentence. Rhoades continues serving his life without parole sentence at the maximum-security Menard Correctional Center in Chester, Illinois.


title: Uri Geller

text: Uri Geller ( ; ; born 20 December 1946) is an Israeli-British illusionist, magician, television personality, and self-proclaimed psychic. He is known for his trademark television performances of spoon bending and other illusions. Geller uses conjuring tricks to simulate the effects of psychokinesis and telepathy. Geller's career as an entertainer has spanned more than four decades, with television shows and appearances in many countries. Magicians have called Geller a fraud due to his claims of possessing psychic powers.


title: Uri Geller

text: Geller was born on 20 December 1946 in Tel Aviv, which was then part of British Mandate of Palestine (now Israel). His mother and father were of Austrian-Jewish and Hungarian-Jewish background respectively. Geller is the son of Itzhaak Geller (Gellér Izsák), a retired army sergeant major, and Margaret "Manzy" Freud (Freud Manci). Geller claims that he is a distant relative of Sigmund Freud on his mother's side.


title: Uri Geller

text: At the age of 11, Geller's family moved to Nicosia, Cyprus, where he attended high school, the Terra Santa College, and learned English. At the age of 18, he joined the Israeli Army's Paratroopers Brigade, with which he served in the 1967 Six-Day War and was wounded in action. He worked as a photographic model in 1968 and 1969; during that time, he began to perform for small audiences as a nightclub entertainer, becoming well known in Israel.


title: Uri Geller

text: Geller first started to perform in theatres, public halls, auditoriums, military bases and universities in Israel. The parapsychologist Andrija Puharich met Geller in 1971 and assisted him in traveling to the United States.


title: Uri Geller

text: Geller became famous demonstrating on television what he claimed to be psychokinesis, dowsing, and telepathy. His performance included spoon bending, describing hidden drawings, and making watches stop or run faster. Geller said he performs these feats through willpower and the strength of his mind. His apparent ability to bend metal objects during his television appearances came to be known as the "Geller effect" and made Geller a celebrity. The work of magician and investigator James Randi was the main factor in revealing that Geller's actual methods were stage magic tricks.


title: Uri Geller

text: In 1973, Geller appeared on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson", an appearance recounted in the "Nova" documentary episode "Secrets of the Psychics" hosted by Randi on PBS.


title: Uri Geller

text: In the documentary, Randi says that "Johnny had been a magician himself and was skeptical" of Geller's claimed paranormal powers, so prior to the date of taping, Randi was asked "to help prevent any trickery"; accordingly, the show prepared their own props without informing Geller, and did not let Geller or his staff "anywhere near them". When Geller joined Carson on stage, he appeared surprised that he was not going to be interviewed, but instead was expected to display his abilities using the provided articles. Geller said, "This scares me", and, "As you know, I told your people what to bring", and "I'm surprised because before this program your producer came and he read me at least 40 questions you were going to ask me". Geller was unable to display any paranormal abilities, saying, "I don't feel strong", and expressed his displeasure at feeling he was being "pressed" to perform by Carson. According to Adam Higginbotham:


title: Uri Geller

text: This appearance on "The Tonight Show", which Carson and Randi had orchestrated to debunk Geller's claimed abilities, backfired. According to Higginbotham,


title: Uri Geller

text: By the mid-1980s, Geller was described as "a millionaire several times over", and claimed to be performing mineral dowsing services for mining groups at a standard fee of £1 million. In June 1986, the "Australian Skeptic" reported that Geller had been paid AU$350,000 and granted an option of 1,250,000 Zanec shares at AU$0.20 each until 5 June 1987.


title: Uri Geller

text: Television presenter Noel Edmonds often used hidden cameras to record celebrities in "Candid Camera"-like situations for his television programme, "Noel's House Party". In 1996, Edmonds planned a stunt in which shelves would fall from the walls of a room while Geller was in it. The cameras recorded footage of Geller from angles he was not expecting, and they showed Geller grasping a spoon firmly with both hands as he stood up to display a bend in it.


title: Uri Geller

text: Geller starred in the horror film "Sanitarium" (2001), directed by Johannes Roberts and James Eaves. In May 2002, he appeared as a contestant on the first series of the reality TV show "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!", where he was the first to be eliminated and finished in last place. In 2005, Geller starred in "Uri's Haunted Cities: Venice", a XI Pictures/Lion TV production for Sky One, which led to a behind-the-scenes release in early 2008 called "Cursed"; both productions were directed by Jason Figgis. In early 2007, Geller hosted a reality show in Israel called "The Successor" (), where the contestants supposedly displayed supernatural powers; Israeli magicians criticised the program, saying that it was all magic tricks. Geller said he welcomed the "mystical aura" that the publicity gave him. In July 2007, NBC signed Geller and Criss Angel for "Phenomenon", to search for the next great mentalist; contestant Mike Super won the position. In January 2008, Geller began hosting the TV show "The Next Uri Geller", broadcast by Pro7 in Germany.


title: Uri Geller

text: In February 2008, Geller stated in the TV show "The Next Uri Geller" (a German version of "The Successor") that he did not have any supernatural powers, before winking to the camera.


title: Uri Geller

text: He also appeared on the Dutch television program "De Nieuwe Uri Geller", which shares a similar TV format to its German counterpart. The goal of the programme was to find the best mentalist in the Netherlands. In March 2008, he started the same show in Hungary ("A kiválasztott" in Hungarian). During the show, Geller speaks in both Hungarian and English. Geller also performs his standard routines of making stopped watches start, spoons jump from televisions, and tables move. Geller co-produced the TV show "Book of Knowledge", released in April 2008. In October 2009, a similar show, called "The Successor of Uri Geller", aired on Greek television.


title: Uri Geller

text: In 2013, a BBC documentary, "The Secret Life of Uri Geller – Psychic Spy?", featured Uri Geller, Benjamin Netanyahu, Christopher 'Kit' Green, Paul H. Smith, Harold Puthoff and Russell Targ. The documentary claimed Geller became a "psychic spy" for the CIA, was recruited by Mossad, and worked as an "official secret agent" in Mexico, being a frequent guest of President José López Portillo. In the film, Geller claims to have erased floppy discs carried by KGB agents by repeatedly chanting the word "erase".


title: Uri Geller

text: Geller has claimed his feats are the result of paranormal powers given to him by extraterrestrials. The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) was a prominent early critic of Geller. Skeptics such as James Randi have shown that Geller's tricks can be replicated with stage magic techniques.


title: Uri Geller

text: Andrija Puharich met Geller in 1971 and endorsed him as a genuine psychic. Under hypnosis, Geller claimed he was sent to Earth by extraterrestrials from a spaceship 53,000 light years away. Geller later denied the space fantasy claims, but affirmed there "is a slight possibility that some of my energies do have extraterrestrial connection." Puharich also stated that Geller teleported a dog through the walls of his house. Science writer Martin Gardner wrote that since "no expert on fraud was there as an observer," nobody should take the claim seriously.


title: Uri Geller

text: In his biography of Geller, "Uri: A Journal of the Mystery of Uri Geller" (1974) Puharich claimed that with Geller he had communicated with super-intelligent computers from outer space. According to Puharich, the computers sent messages to warn humanity that a disaster is likely to occur if humans do not change their ways. The psychologist Christopher Evans, who reviewed the book in "New Scientist", wrote that although Puharich believed every word he had written, the book was credulous and "those fans of Geller's who might have hoped to have used the book as ammunition to impress the sceptics [...] will be the most disappointed of all." James Randi has written that the biography contained "silly theories," but was "both a boost and a millstone to Geller."


title: Uri Geller

text: In 1992, Geller was asked to investigate the kidnapping of Hungarian model . He predicted she would be found in good health, but she was never found and is widely believed to have been murdered. Geller was a friend of Bruce Bursford and helped him "train his mind" during some cycling speed record-breaking bids in the 1990s.


title: Uri Geller

text: In 1997, Geller was involved with Second Division football club Exeter City by placing "energy-infused" crystals behind the goals at Exeter's ground to help the club win a crucial end-of-season game (Exeter lost the game 5–1); he was appointed co-chairman of the club in 2002. The club was relegated to the Football Conference in May 2003, where it remained for five years. He has since severed ties with the club. He had also been involved with Reading F.C. and claimed in 2002 that he had helped them to avoid relegation by getting the club's supporters to look into his eyes and say "win, Reading, win". Reading manager Alan Pardew dismissed Geller's role in the club's survival – which was achieved thanks to a draw in the critical match – stating "as soon as we get a bit of joy, thanks to all the hard work and efforts of my staff and players, he suddenly comes out of the blue and tries to claim the limelight."


title: Uri Geller

text: In a 2008 interview, Geller told "Telepolis", "I said to this German magazine, so what I did say, that I changed my character, to the best of my recollection, and I no longer say that I do supernatural things. It doesn't mean that I don't have powers. It means that I don't say 'it's supernatural,' I say 'I'm a mystifier!' That's what I said. And the sceptics turned it around and said, 'Uri Geller said he's a magician!' I never said that." In that interview, Geller further explained that when he is asked how he does his stunts, he tells children to "forget the paranormal. Forget spoon bending! Instead of that, focus on school! Become a positive thinker! Believe in yourself and create a target! Go to university! Never smoke! And never touch drugs! And think of success!"


title: Uri Geller

text: In March 2019, "The Guardian" reported that Geller wrote an open letter to British Prime Minister Theresa May, stating that he would telepathically prevent her from leading Britain out of the European Union. In Geller's words, "As much as I admire you, I will stop you telepathically from doing this – and believe me I am capable of executing it." Despite this, the United Kingdom left the European Union on 23 January 2021 under the leadership of May's successor Boris Johnson.


title: Uri Geller

text: Many scientists, magicians, and skeptics have suggested possible ways in which Geller could have tricked his audience by using misdirection while bending objects such as keys and spoons manually.


title: Uri Geller

text: There are many ways in which a bent spoon can be presented to an audience so as to give the appearance it was manipulated using supernatural powers. One way is through brief moments of distraction in which a magician can physically bend a spoon or other object unseen by the audience, before gradually revealing the bend to create the illusion that the spoon is bending before the viewers' eyes. Another way is to pre-bend the spoon, reducing the amount of force that needs to be applied to bend it.


title: Uri Geller

text: Critics have accused Geller of using his demonstrations fraudulently outside the entertainment business.


title: Uri Geller

text: Randi, one of Geller's most prominent critics, wrote "The Truth About Uri Geller" explaining how Geller's spoon bending can be easily reproduced by any magician using sleight of hand.


title: Uri Geller

text: In the early 1970s, an article in "The Jerusalem Post" reported that a court had ordered Geller to refund a customer's ticket price and pay court costs after finding that he had committed fraud by claiming that his feats were telepathic.


title: Uri Geller

text: A 1974 article in "Haolam Hazeh" alleged that Geller's manager Shipi Shtrang and Shipi's sister Hannah Shtrang secretly helped in Geller's performances.


title: Uri Geller

text: In Geller's first autobiography, "My Story", he acknowledged that, in his early career, his manager talked him into adding a magic trick to make his performances last longer. This trick involved Geller appearing to guess audience members' car registration numbers, when his manager had given them to him ahead of time.


title: Uri Geller

text: Yasha Katz, who had been Geller's manager in Britain, said in 1978 that all performances by Geller were simply stage tricks and he explained how they were really done.


title: Uri Geller

text: Geller's spoon-bending feats are discussed in "The Geller Papers" (1976), edited by Charles Panati. There was controversy when it was published. Several prominent magicians came forward to demonstrate that Geller's psychic feats could be duplicated by stage magic. Martin Gardner wrote that Panati had been fooled by Geller's trickery and "The Geller Papers" were an "embarrassing anthology".


title: Uri Geller

text: During telepathic drawing demonstrations, Geller claimed the ability to read the minds of subjects as they drew a picture. Although in these demonstrations he cannot see the picture being drawn, he is sometimes present in the room, and on these occasions can see the subjects as they draw. Critics argue this may allow Geller to infer common shapes from pencil movement and sound, with the power of suggestion doing the rest.


title: Uri Geller

text: Geller admits, "Sure, there are magicians who can duplicate [my performances] through trickery." He has claimed that even though his spoon bending can be repeated using trickery, he uses psychic powers to achieve his results.


title: Uri Geller

text: Physicist Richard Feynman, who was an amateur magician, wrote in "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" (1985) that Geller was unable to bend a key for him and his son.


title: Uri Geller

text: James Randi has stated that if Geller is truly using his mind to perform these feats, "He is doing it the hard way."


title: Uri Geller

text: In November 2008, Geller accepted an award during a convention of magicians, the "Services to Promotion of Magic Award" from the Berglas Foundation. In his acceptance speech, Geller said that if he had not had psychic powers then he "must be the greatest" to have been able to fool journalists, scientists and Berglas himself. In October 2012, Geller gave a lecture for magicians in the United States at the Genii Magazine 75th Birthday Bash.


title: Uri Geller

text: Geller's performances of drawing duplication and cutlery bending usually take place under informal conditions such as television interviews. During his early career, he allowed some scientists to investigate his claims.


title: Uri Geller

text: When Geller's supposed abilities were tested by the US Central Intelligence Agency in 1973, the experimenters concluded that Geller had "demonstrated his paranormal perceptual ability in a convincing and unambiguous manner".


title: Uri Geller

text: A study was commissioned by the United States Defense Intelligence Agency as part of the Stargate Project and conducted during August 1973 at Stanford Research Institute (now known as SRI International) by parapsychologists Harold E. Puthoff and Russell Targ. Geller was isolated and asked to reproduce simple drawings prepared in another room. Writing about the same study in a 1974 article published in the journal "Nature", they concluded that he had performed successfully enough to warrant further serious study.


title: Uri Geller

text: In "An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural", Randi wrote, "Hal Puthoff and Russell Targ, who studied Mr. Geller at the Stanford Research Institute, were aware, in one instance at least, that they were being shown a magician's trick by Geller [...] Their protocols for this 'serious' investigation of the powers claimed by Geller were described by Ray Hyman, who investigated the project on behalf of the Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency, as 'sloppy and inadequate. Critics have pointed out that both Puthoff and Targ were already believers in paranormal powers and Geller was not adequately searched before the experiments. The psychologist C. E. M. Hansel and sceptic Paul Kurtz have noted that the experiments were poorly designed and open to trickery.


title: Uri Geller

text: Critics of the experiments include psychologists David Marks and Richard Kammann, who published a description of how Geller could have cheated in an informal test of his so-called psychic powers in 1977. Their 1978 article in "Nature" and 1980 book "The Psychology of the Psychic" (2nd ed. 2000) described how a normal explanation was possible for Geller's alleged psychic powers. Marks and Kammann found evidence that while at SRI, Geller was allowed to peek through a hole in the laboratory wall separating him from the drawings he was being invited to reproduce. These drawings were placed on a wall opposite the peephole which the investigators Targ and Puthoff had stuffed with cotton gauze. In addition to this error, the investigators had also allowed Geller access to a two-way intercom, enabling him to listen to the investigators' conversation during the times when they were choosing and/or displaying the target drawings. These basic errors indicate the great importance of ensuring that psychologists, magicians, or other people with an in-depth knowledge of perception, who are trained in methods for blocking sensory cues, be present during the testing of psychics. Marks, after evaluating the experiments, wrote that none of Geller's paranormal claims had been demonstrated in scientifically controlled conditions, concluding that "Geller has no psychic ability whatsoever. However, I believe him to be a very clever, well-practiced magician."


title: Uri Geller

text: Marks and Kammann tested Geller's ability to mentally repair watches and found that "many supposedly broken watches had merely been stopped by gummy oil and simply holding them in the hand would warm the oil enough to soften it and allow watches to resume ticking."


title: Uri Geller

text: Geller has litigated or threatened legal action against some of his critics with mixed results. These included libel allegations against James Randi and illusionist Gérard Majax.


title: Uri Geller

text: In 1971, a mechanical engineering student called Uri Goldstein attended one of Geller's shows, and subsequently sued the show's promoters for breach of contract. He complained that Geller had promised a demonstration of several psychic powers but had delivered only sleight-of-hand and stage tricks. The case came before the civil court in Beersheba. Geller was not present as the summons had been sent to the office of the promoter Miki Peled, who had ignored it as being trivial. Goldstein was awarded IL27.5 (around $5) for breach of contract. Later, Goldstein admitted that he went to the show specifically with the intention of suing to get his money back, and he had already found a lawyer to represent him prior to attending the performance.


title: Uri Geller

text: In a 1989 interview with a Japanese newspaper, James Randi was quoted as saying that Geller had driven a scientist to "shoot himself in the head" after finding out that Geller had fooled him. Randi afterwards claimed it was a metaphor lost in translation. The story was also repeated in a Canadian newspaper, which quoted Randi as saying essentially the same thing: "One scientist, a metallurgist, wrote a paper backing Geller's claims that he could bend metal. The scientist shot himself after I showed him how the key bending trick was done." In 1990, Geller sued Randi in a Japanese court over the statements published in the Japanese newspaper. Randi claims that he could not afford to defend himself, therefore he lost the case by default. The court declared Randi's statement an "insult" as opposed to libel, and awarded a token judgement against him, paying Geller only "one-third of one-percent of what he'd demanded". Since the charge of "insult" is only recognized in Chinese and Japanese law, Randi was not required to pay. Later in 1995, Geller agreed not to pursue payment of the Japanese fine. Randi maintained that he had never paid anything to Geller.


title: Uri Geller

text: In 1992, Geller filed a $15 million suit against Randi and CSICOP for statements made in an "International Herald Tribune" interview on 9 April 1991, but he was unsuccessful because the statute of limitations had expired. In 1994, Geller asked to dismiss without prejudice, and he was ordered to pay $50,000 for the publisher's attorney fees. After not paying in time, Geller was sanctioned with an additional $20,000. Due to the sanction, the suit was dismissed with prejudice, which, according to Randi's attorneys, means that Geller cannot pursue the same suit in any other jurisdiction. In 1995, Geller and Randi announced that this settled "the last remaining suits" between him and the CSICOP. As part of the settlement, Geller agreed not to pursue the payment of the 1990 Japanese ruling, in exchange for Prometheus Books inserting an errata on all future editions of "Physics and Psychics", correcting erroneous statements made about him.


title: Uri Geller

text: In 1991, Geller sued Timex Corporation and the advertising firm Fallon McElligott for millions in "Geller v. Fallon McElligott" over an ad showing a person bending forks and other items, but failing to stop a Timex watch. Geller was sanctioned $149,000 for filing a frivolous lawsuit.


title: Uri Geller

text: In 1998, the Broadcasting Standards Commission (BSC) in the United Kingdom rejected a complaint made by Geller, (the BSC) saying that it "wasn't unfair to have magicians showing how they duplicate those 'psychic feats'" on the UK "Equinox" episode ""Secrets of the Super Psychics"".


title: Uri Geller

text: In 1999, Geller considered a suit against IKEA over a furniture line featuring bent legs that was called the "Uri" line.


title: Uri Geller

text: In November 2000, Geller sued video game company Nintendo for £60 million over the Pokémon species "", localized in English as "Kadabra", which he claimed was an unauthorized appropriation of his identity. The Pokémon in question has psychic abilities and carries a spoon. Geller also claimed that the star on Kadabra's forehead and the lightning patterns on its abdomen are symbolisms popular with the Waffen SS of Nazi Germany. The katakana for the character's name, ユンゲラー, is visually similar to the transliteration of Geller's own name into Japanese (ユリゲラー). He is quoted as saying: "Nintendo turned me into an evil, occult Pokémon character. Nintendo stole my identity by using my name and my signature image." Pokémon anime director and storyboard artist Masamitsu Hidaka confirmed in an interview that Kadabra would not be used on a Pokémon Trading Card until an agreement was reached on the case. In November 2020, Geller issued an apology and agreed to allow cards depicting Kadabra to be printed, though the last Kadabra card released was in the Skyridge e-Reader set (2002/2003).


title: Uri Geller

text: In 2007, Geller issued a DMCA notice to YouTube to remove a video uploaded by Brian Sapient of the "Rational Response Squad" which was excerpted from an episode of the "Nova" television series titled "Secrets of the Psychics". The video included footage of Geller failing to perform. In response, Sapient contacted the Electronic Frontier Foundation, issued a DMCA counter-notice, and sued Geller for misuse of the DMCA. Geller's company, Explorologist, filed a counter-suit. Both cases were settled out of court; a monetary settlement was paid (but it is not clear whether Sapient paid Geller or vice versa) and the eight seconds of footage owned by Explorologist were licensed under a noncommercial Creative Commons license.


title: Uri Geller

text: Michael Jackson was best man when Geller renewed his wedding vows in 2001. Geller also negotiated the TV interview between Jackson with the journalist Martin Bashir, "Living with Michael Jackson". Later, however, Jackson, who an advisor said could be a bit paranoid, reportedly kept an “enemy list” on which Geller appeared, along with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, attorney Gloria Allred, music executive Tommy Mottola, DA Tom Sneddon, and Janet Arvizo, mother of a Jackson accuser.


title: Uri Geller

text: Following Jackson's death, ITV broadcast an interview with Geller about his association with Jackson, titled "My Friend Michael Jackson: Uri's Story", in July 2009.


title: Uri Geller

text: On 11 February 2009, Geller purchased the uninhabited 100-metre-by-50-metre Lamb Island off the eastern coast of Scotland, previously known for its witch trials, and beaches that Robert Louis Stevenson is said to have described in his novel "Treasure Island". Geller claims that buried on the island is Egyptian treasure, brought there by Scota, the mythological half-sister of Tutankhamen in Irish mythology, 3,500 years ago. He claimed that he will find the treasure through dowsing. Geller also claimed to have strengthened the mystical powers of the island by burying there a crystal orb once belonging to Albert Einstein. In 2022, Geller sought to declare Lamb as Republic of Lamb, a micronation.


title: Uri Geller

text: In 2014, a 12-foot-tall statue of a gorilla made from approximately 40,000 metal spoons was unveiled in Geller's Berkshire garden by the Duke of Kent, with the intention of possibly relocating it to Great Ormond Street Hospital. The statue was welded by sculptor Alfie Bradley, and funded by the British Ironworks Centre of Oswestry. According to Bradley, many of the spoons were donated by schoolchildren from around the world. Speaking at the unveiling, Geller said "This will not raise money for charity. It will do something better. It will amaze sick children."


title: Uri Geller

text: Geller has lived in Tel Aviv in Israel since 2015. He previously lived in the village of Sonning-on-Thames, Berkshire, in England. He is trilingual, speaking fluent Hebrew, Hungarian and English. In an appearance on Esther Rantzen's 1996 television talk show "Esther", Geller declared that he had suffered from anorexia nervosa and bulimia for several years. He has written 16 fiction and non-fiction books.


title: Uri Geller

text: Geller is president of International Friends of Magen David Adom, a group that lobbied the International Committee of the Red Cross to recognise Magen David Adom ("Red Star of David") as a humanitarian relief organisation.


title: Uri Geller

text: In 2021 Geller opened the Uri Geller Museum located at 7 Mazal Arieh Street in Old Jaffa in Tel Aviv. The museum exhibits the personal collection of art and objects that Geller has collected throughout his career. It also features an archaeological display of the ancient soap factory that was discovered during the museum's renovation.


title: Crystal structure

text: In crystallography, crystal structure is a description of the ordered arrangement of atoms, ions or molecules in a crystalline material. Ordered structures occur from the intrinsic nature of the constituent particles to form symmetric patterns that repeat along the principal directions of three-dimensional space in matter.


title: Crystal structure

text: The smallest group of particles in the material that constitutes this repeating pattern is the unit cell of the structure. The unit cell completely reflects the symmetry and structure of the entire crystal, which is built up by repetitive translation of the unit cell along its principal axes. The translation vectors define the nodes of the Bravais lattice.


title: Crystal structure

text: The lengths of the principal axes, or edges, of the unit cell and the angles between them are the lattice constants, also called "lattice parameters" or "cell parameters". The symmetry properties of the crystal are described by the concept of space groups. All possible symmetric arrangements of particles in three-dimensional space may be described by the 230 space groups.


title: Crystal structure

text: The crystal structure and symmetry play a critical role in determining many physical properties, such as cleavage, electronic band structure, and optical transparency.


title: Crystal structure

text: Crystal structure is described in terms of the geometry of arrangement of particles in the unit cells. The unit cell is defined as the smallest repeating unit having the full symmetry of the crystal structure. The geometry of the unit cell is defined as a parallelepiped, providing six lattice parameters taken as the lengths of the cell edges ("a", "b", "c") and the angles between them (α, β, γ). The positions of particles inside the unit cell are described by the fractional coordinates ("x", "y", "z") along the cell edges, measured from a reference point. It is thus, only necessary to report the coordinates of a smallest asymmetric subset of particles. This group of particles may be chosen so that it occupies the smallest physical space, which means that not all particles need to be physically located inside the boundaries given by the lattice parameters. All other particles of the unit cell are generated by the symmetry operations that characterize the symmetry of the unit cell. The collection of symmetry operations of the unit cell is expressed formally as the space group of the crystal structure.


title: Crystal structure

text: Vectors and planes in a crystal lattice are described by the three-value Miller index notation. This syntax uses the indices "h", "k", and "ℓ" as directional parameters.


title: Crystal structure

text: By definition, the syntax ("hkℓ") denotes a plane that intercepts the three points "a"/"h", "a"/"k", and "a"/"ℓ", or some multiple thereof. That is, the Miller indices are proportional to the inverses of the intercepts of the plane with the unit cell (in the basis of the lattice vectors). If one or more of the indices is zero, it means that the planes do not intersect that axis (i.e., the intercept is "at infinity"). A plane containing a coordinate axis is translated so that it no longer contains that axis before its Miller indices are determined. The Miller indices for a plane are integers with no common factors. Negative indices are indicated with horizontal bars, as in (13). In an orthogonal coordinate system for a cubic cell, the Miller indices of a plane are the Cartesian components of a vector normal to the plane.


title: Crystal structure

text: Considering only ("hkℓ") planes intersecting one or more lattice points (the "lattice planes"), the distance "d" between adjacent lattice planes is related to the (shortest) reciprocal lattice vector orthogonal to the planes by the formula


title: Crystal structure

text: The crystallographic directions are geometric lines linking nodes (atoms, ions or molecules) of a crystal. Likewise, the crystallographic planes are geometric "planes" linking nodes. Some directions and planes have a higher density of nodes. These high density planes have an influence on the behavior of the crystal as follows:


title: Crystal structure

text: Some directions and planes are defined by symmetry of the crystal system. In monoclinic, rhombohedral, tetragonal, and trigonal/hexagonal systems there is one unique axis (sometimes called the principal axis) which has higher rotational symmetry than the other two axes. The basal plane is the plane perpendicular to the principal axis in these crystal systems. For triclinic, orthorhombic, and cubic crystal systems the axis designation is arbitrary and there is no principal axis.


title: Crystal structure

text: For the special case of simple cubic crystals, the lattice vectors are orthogonal and of equal length (usually denoted "a"); similarly for the reciprocal lattice. So, in this common case, the Miller indices ("ℓmn") and ["ℓmn"] both simply denote normals/directions in Cartesian coordinates. For cubic crystals with lattice constant "a", the spacing "d" between adjacent (ℓmn) lattice planes is (from above):


title: Crystal structure

text: Because of the symmetry of cubic crystals, it is possible to change the place and sign of the integers and have equivalent directions and planes:


title: Crystal structure

text: For face-centered cubic (fcc) and body-centered cubic (bcc) lattices, the primitive lattice vectors are not orthogonal. However, in these cases the Miller indices are conventionally defined relative to the lattice vectors of the cubic supercell and hence are again simply the Cartesian directions.


title: Crystal structure

text: The defining property of a crystal is its inherent symmetry. Performing certain symmetry operations on the crystal lattice leaves it unchanged. All crystals have translational symmetry in three directions, but some have other symmetry elements as well. For example, rotating the crystal 180° about a certain axis may result in an atomic configuration that is identical to the original configuration; the crystal has twofold rotational symmetry about this axis. In addition to rotational symmetry, a crystal may have symmetry in the form of mirror planes, and also the so-called compound symmetries, which are a combination of translation and rotation or mirror symmetries. A full classification of a crystal is achieved when all inherent symmetries of the crystal are identified.


title: Crystal structure

text: Lattice systems are a grouping of crystal structures according to the axial system used to describe their lattice. Each lattice system consists of a set of three axes in a particular geometric arrangement. All crystals fall into one of seven lattice systems. They are similar to, but not quite the same as the seven crystal systems.


title: Crystal structure

text: The simplest and most symmetric, the cubic or isometric system, has the symmetry of a cube, that is, it exhibits four threefold rotational axes oriented at 109.5° (the tetrahedral angle) with respect to each other. These threefold axes lie along the body diagonals of the cube. The other six lattice systems, are hexagonal, tetragonal, rhombohedral (often confused with the trigonal crystal system), orthorhombic, monoclinic and triclinic.


title: Crystal structure

text: Bravais lattices, also referred to as "space lattices", describe the geometric arrangement of the lattice points, and therefore the translational symmetry of the crystal. The three dimensions of space afford 14 distinct Bravais lattices describing the translational symmetry. All crystalline materials recognized today, not including quasicrystals, fit in one of these arrangements. The fourteen three-dimensional lattices, classified by lattice system, are shown above.


title: Crystal structure

text: The crystal structure consists of the same group of atoms, the "basis", positioned around each and every lattice point. This group of atoms therefore repeats indefinitely in three dimensions according to the arrangement of one of the Bravais lattices. The characteristic rotation and mirror symmetries of the unit cell is described by its crystallographic point group.


title: Crystal structure

text: A crystal system is a set of point groups in which the point groups themselves and their corresponding space groups are assigned to a lattice system. Of the 32 point groups that exist in three dimensions, most are assigned to only one lattice system, in which case the crystal system and lattice system both have the same name. However, five point groups are assigned to two lattice systems, rhombohedral and hexagonal, because both lattice systems exhibit threefold rotational symmetry. These point groups are assigned to the trigonal crystal system.


title: Crystal structure

text: In total there are seven crystal systems: triclinic, monoclinic, orthorhombic, tetragonal, trigonal, hexagonal, and cubic.


title: Crystal structure

text: The crystallographic point group or "crystal class" is the mathematical group comprising the symmetry operations that leave at least one point unmoved and that leave the appearance of the crystal structure unchanged. These symmetry operations include


title: Crystal structure

text: Rotation axes (proper and improper), reflection planes, and centers of symmetry are collectively called "symmetry elements". There are 32 possible crystal classes. Each one can be classified into one of the seven crystal systems.


title: Crystal structure

text: In addition to the operations of the point group, the space group of the crystal structure contains translational symmetry operations. These include:


title: Crystal structure

text: By considering the arrangement of atoms relative to each other, their coordination numbers, interatomic distances, types of bonding, etc., it is possible to form a general view of the structures and alternative ways of visualizing them.


title: Crystal structure

text: The principles involved can be understood by considering the most efficient way of packing together equal-sized spheres and stacking close-packed atomic planes in three dimensions. For example, if plane A lies beneath plane B, there are two possible ways of placing an additional atom on top of layer B. If an additional layer was placed directly over plane A, this would give rise to the following series:


title: Crystal structure

text: If, however, all three planes are staggered relative to each other and it is not until the fourth layer is positioned directly over plane A that the sequence is repeated, then the following sequence arises:


title: Crystal structure

text: The unit cell of a ccp arrangement of atoms is the face-centered cubic (fcc) unit cell. This is not immediately obvious as the closely packed layers are parallel to the {111} planes of the fcc unit cell. There are four different orientations of the close-packed layers.


title: Crystal structure

text: One important characteristic of a crystalline structure is its atomic packing factor (APF). This is calculated by assuming that all the atoms are identical spheres, with a radius large enough that each sphere abuts on the next. The atomic packing factor is the proportion of space filled by these spheres which can be worked out by calculating the total volume of the spheres and dividing by the volume of the cell as follows:


title: Crystal structure

text: Another important characteristic of a crystalline structure is its coordination number (CN). This is the number of nearest neighbours of a central atom in the structure.


title: Crystal structure

text: The 74% packing efficiency of the FCC and HCP is the maximum density possible in unit cells constructed of spheres of only one size.


title: Crystal structure

text: Interstitial sites refer to the empty spaces in between the atoms in the crystal lattice. These spaces can be filled by oppositely charged ions to form multi-element structures. They can also be filled by impurity atoms or self-interstitials to form interstitial defects.


title: Crystal structure

text: Real crystals feature defects or irregularities in the ideal arrangements described above and it is these defects that critically determine many of the electrical and mechanical properties of real materials.


title: Crystal structure

text: When one atom substitutes for one of the principal atomic components within the crystal structure, alteration in the electrical and thermal properties of the material may ensue. Impurities may also manifest as electron spin impurities in certain materials. Research on magnetic impurities demonstrates that substantial alteration of certain properties such as specific heat may be affected by small concentrations of an impurity, as for example impurities in semiconducting ferromagnetic alloys may lead to different properties as first predicted in the late 1960s.


title: Crystal structure

text: Dislocations in a crystal lattice are line defects that are associated with local stress fields. Dislocations allow shear at lower stress than that needed for a perfect crystal structure. The local stress fields result in interactions between the dislocations which then result in strain hardening or cold working.


title: Crystal structure

text: Grain boundaries are interfaces where crystals of different orientations meet. A grain boundary is a single-phase interface, with crystals on each side of the boundary being identical except in orientation. The term "crystallite boundary" is sometimes, though rarely, used. Grain boundary areas contain those atoms that have been perturbed from their original lattice sites, dislocations, and impurities that have migrated to the lower energy grain boundary.


title: Crystal structure

text: Treating a grain boundary geometrically as an interface of a single crystal cut into two parts, one of which is rotated, we see that there are five variables required to define a grain boundary. The first two numbers come from the unit vector that specifies a rotation axis. The third number designates the angle of rotation of the grain. The final two numbers specify the plane of the grain boundary (or a unit vector that is normal to this plane).


title: Crystal structure

text: Grain boundaries disrupt the motion of dislocations through a material, so reducing crystallite size is a common way to improve strength, as described by the Hall–Petch relationship. Since grain boundaries are defects in the crystal structure they tend to decrease the electrical and thermal conductivity of the material. The high interfacial energy and relatively weak bonding in most grain boundaries often makes them preferred sites for the onset of corrosion and for the precipitation of new phases from the solid. They are also important to many of the mechanisms of creep.


title: Crystal structure

text: Grain boundaries are in general only a few nanometers wide. In common materials, crystallites are large enough that grain boundaries account for a small fraction of the material. However, very small grain sizes are achievable. In nanocrystalline solids, grain boundaries become a significant volume fraction of the material, with profound effects on such properties as diffusion and plasticity. In the limit of small crystallites, as the volume fraction of grain boundaries approaches 100%, the material ceases to have any crystalline character, and thus becomes an amorphous solid.


title: Crystal structure

text: The difficulty of predicting stable crystal structures based on the knowledge of only the chemical composition has long been a stumbling block on the way to fully computational materials design. Now, with more powerful algorithms and high-performance computing, structures of medium complexity can be predicted using such approaches as evolutionary algorithms, random sampling, or metadynamics.


title: Crystal structure

text: The crystal structures of simple ionic solids (e.g., NaCl or table salt) have long been rationalized in terms of Pauling's rules, first set out in 1929 by Linus Pauling, referred to by many since as the "father of the chemical bond". Pauling also considered the nature of the interatomic forces in metals, and concluded that about half of the five d-orbitals in the transition metals are involved in bonding, with the remaining nonbonding d-orbitals being responsible for the magnetic properties. He, therefore, was able to correlate the number of d-orbitals in bond formation with the bond length as well as many of the physical properties of the substance. He subsequently introduced the metallic orbital, an extra orbital necessary to permit uninhibited resonance of valence bonds among various electronic structures.


title: Crystal structure

text: In the resonating valence bond theory, the factors that determine the choice of one from among alternative crystal structures of a metal or intermetallic compound revolve around the energy of resonance of bonds among interatomic positions. It is clear that some modes of resonance would make larger contributions (be more mechanically stable than others), and that in particular a simple ratio of number of bonds to number of positions would be exceptional. The resulting principle is that a special stability is associated with the simplest ratios or "bond numbers": , , , , , etc. The choice of structure and the value of the axial ratio (which determines the relative bond lengths) are thus a result of the effort of an atom to use its valency in the formation of stable bonds with simple fractional bond numbers.


title: Crystal structure

text: After postulating a direct correlation between electron concentration and crystal structure in beta-phase alloys, Hume-Rothery analyzed the trends in melting points, compressibilities and bond lengths as a function of group number in the periodic table in order to establish a system of valencies of the transition elements in the metallic state. This treatment thus emphasized the increasing bond strength as a function of group number. The operation of directional forces were emphasized in one article on the relation between bond hybrids and the metallic structures. The resulting correlation between electronic and crystalline structures is summarized by a single parameter, the weight of the d-electrons per hybridized metallic orbital. The "d-weight" calculates out to 0.5, 0.7 and 0.9 for the fcc, hcp and bcc structures respectively. The relationship between d-electrons and crystal structure thus becomes apparent.


title: Crystal structure

text: In crystal structure predictions/simulations, the periodicity is usually applied, since the system is imagined as unlimited big in all directions. Starting from a triclinic structure with no further symmetry property assumed, the system may be driven to show some additional symmetry properties by applying Newton's Second Law on particles in the unit cell and a recently developed dynamical equation for the system period vectors


title: Crystal structure

text: Polymorphism is the occurrence of multiple crystalline forms of a material. It is found in many crystalline materials including polymers, minerals, and metals. According to Gibbs' rules of phase equilibria, these unique crystalline phases are dependent on intensive variables such as pressure and temperature. Polymorphism is related to allotropy, which refers to elemental solids. The complete morphology of a material is described by polymorphism and other variables such as crystal habit, amorphous fraction or crystallographic defects. Polymorphs have different stabilities and may spontaneously and irreversibly transform from a metastable form (or thermodynamically unstable form) to the stable form at a particular temperature. They also exhibit different melting points, solubilities, and X-ray diffraction patterns.


title: Crystal structure

text: One good example of this is the quartz form of silicon dioxide, or SiO. In the vast majority of silicates, the Si atom shows tetrahedral coordination by 4 oxygens. All but one of the crystalline forms involve tetrahedral {SiO} units linked together by shared vertices in different arrangements. In different minerals the tetrahedra show different degrees of networking and polymerization. For example, they occur singly, joined together in pairs, in larger finite clusters including rings, in chains, double chains, sheets, and three-dimensional frameworks. The minerals are classified into groups based on these structures. In each of the 7 thermodynamically stable crystalline forms or polymorphs of crystalline quartz, only 2 out of 4 of each the edges of the {SiO} tetrahedra are shared with others, yielding the net chemical formula for silica: SiO.


title: Crystal structure

text: Another example is elemental tin (Sn), which is malleable near ambient temperatures but is brittle when cooled. This change in mechanical properties due to existence of its two major allotropes, α- and β-tin. The two allotropes that are encountered at normal pressure and temperature, α-tin and β-tin, are more commonly known as "gray tin" and "white tin" respectively. Two more allotropes, γ and σ, exist at temperatures above 161 °C and pressures above several GPa. White tin is metallic, and is the stable crystalline form at or above room temperature. Below 13.2 °C, tin exists in the gray form, which has a diamond cubic crystal structure, similar to diamond, silicon or germanium. Gray tin has no metallic properties at all, is a dull gray powdery material, and has few uses, other than a few specialized semiconductor applications. Although the α–β transformation temperature of tin is nominally 13.2 °C, impurities (e.g. Al, Zn, etc.) lower the transition temperature well below 0 °C, and upon addition of Sb or Bi the transformation may not occur at all.