The simulation shows an X-ray beam striking stacked atomic planes inside a crystal, letting you see how the reflected waves from successive planes fall in or out of phase as the incidence angle changes, and how that phase relationship produces a sharp diffraction spot only at the specific angles predicted by Bragg's Law.
Adjust the wavelength and plane-spacing sliders to change lambda and d, then sweep the incidence angle theta to watch the reflected wavefronts shift in and out of alignment, with a detector readout lighting up whenever the current angle satisfies n times lambda equals 2 times d times sine of theta.
Wavelength slider, plane-spacing (d) slider, incidence angle (theta) slider, diffraction order toggle, play/pause
Rosalind Franklin's X-ray diffraction image known as Photograph 51 took about 100 hours of exposure to capture, and its distinctive X-shaped pattern was the key piece of evidence that let Watson and Crick deduce that DNA is a double helix.
The simulation shows an X-ray beam striking stacked atomic planes inside a crystal, letting you see how the reflected waves from successive planes fall in or out of phase as the incidence angle changes, and how that phase relationship produces a sharp diffraction spot only at the specific angles predicted by Bragg's Law.
The simulation shows an X-ray beam striking stacked atomic planes inside a crystal, letting you see how the reflected waves from successive planes fall in or out of phase as the incidence angle changes, and how that phase relationship produces a sharp diffraction spot only at the specific angles predicted by Bragg's Law.
Adjust the wavelength and plane-spacing sliders to change lambda and d, then sweep the incidence angle theta to watch the reflected wavefronts shift in and out of alignment, with a detector readout lighting up whenever the current angle satisfies n times lambda equals 2 times d times sine of theta.
Rosalind Franklin's X-ray diffraction image known as Photograph 51 took about 100 hours of exposure to capture, and its distinctive X-shaped pattern was the key piece of evidence that let Watson and Crick deduce that DNA is a double helix.