As implied by the name, this crystalline structure type is the simplest of the cubic arrangements. The unit cell for a simple cubic structure is just a cube with an atom centered at each of the eight corners. Each atom rests touching six of its neighbors, one on each side in three dimensions.

The atomic packing factor for a Simple Cubic crystalline structure is 0.523, which is quite low compared to other packing arrangements. Since metals have a tendency to pack tightly together, the Simple Cubic unit cell is rarely seen. It is much less common than the Face Centered Cubic, the Body Centered Cubic, or the Hexagonal Close Packed unit cells. The only fairly common material that has a Simple Cubic arrangement is Manganese.

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