What is Bragg's Law and how does it work?
Bragg's Law is the mathematical foundation of X-ray crystallography. Let's start with a simple case: imagine X-rays encountering a crystal lattice, which is a regular, repeating arrangement of atoms. These atoms act like tiny scattering centers. When the X-rays diffract from different atomic planes within the crystal, they interfere with each other. Constructive interference, which leads to observable spots on a detector, occurs when the path difference between these scattered waves is an integer multiple of the wavelength. Bragg's Law, nλ = 2d sinθ, precisely describes this condition, linking the wavelength of the X-rays (λ), the spacing between atomic planes (d), and the angle of diffraction (θ).
Ask William Lawrence Bragg the follow-up →