A
spin glass is a disordered
magnet, where the magnetic spin of the component atoms (the orientation of the north and south magnetic poles in three-dimensional space) are not aligned in a regular pattern. The term "glass" comes from an analogy between the
magnetic disorder in a spin glass and the
positional disorder of a conventional, chemical
glass, e.g., a window glass. In window glass or any
amorphous solid the atomic bond structure is highly irregular; in contrast, a
crystal has a uniform pattern of atomic bonds. In
ferromagnetic solid, magnetic spins all align in the same direction; this would be analogous to a crystal.