Diffraction:

Introduction:
When x-rays were discovered in 1895 by Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (the first Nobel
laureate in Physics1901), their exact nature was not known.

In 1919 A. W. Hull gave a paper titled, “A

New Method of Chemical Analysis.” Here Are x-rays particles or are they
he pointed out that “….every crystalline waves like visible light (waves)?
substance gives a pattern; the same
substance always gives the same pattern;
and in a mixture of substances each
produces its pattern independently of the
others.”
To determine the internal structure of
crystals and to diffract x-rays we can use physical phenomenon known as
DIFARACTION.

Defined as:

1.“The turning of waves around an obstacle where the obstacle and wavelength of
incident wave are of same order.”
2.Diffraction effects are observed only when the repeat distances in a material are
of the order of magnitude of the wavelength of the radiation.

The above two facts gives an idea that diffraction of x-rays can be observed using
crystal. As wavelength of x-rays is so small that we cannot construct such a small
diffraction spacing.This not only diffract x-rays but also obtained pattern reveal
theinternal structures of crystal.

Friedrich and Knipping performed the first x-ray diffraction experiment using a
crystal of copper sulfate.( W. Freidrich, P. Knipping, and M. Von Laue, Proc.
Bavarian Acad. Sci., 1912, 303;Reprinted in Naturewissenschaften, 1952, 39, 367.)
They obtained a diffraction pattern and concluded that x-ray must be
electromagnetic radiation.