X-ray diffraction
1
7.1
- noun
- /ˈɛksˌreɪ dɪfˈrækʃən/
- Specialized
:
difracción de rayos X
- X-ray diffraction is a powerful technique used to reveal the atomic structure of crystals.
- X-ray diffraction patterns
- X-ray diffraction is used
- X-ray diffraction data
And the breakthroughs came with X-ray diffraction.
- And the breakthroughs came with X-ray diffraction.
- Obviously Watson is a controversial figure, but what they used, importantly, they use X-ray diffraction data of Rosalind Franklin.
Examples
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X-ray diffraction offers perhaps the most convincing evidence for the liquid-like layer on the surface of ice.
Academic text (2005) -
So we collaborated with Mike Tony up at the synchrotron and used X-ray diffraction to learn how the molecules were packing.
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This is what an X-ray diffraction experiment looks like.
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The fundamental principles of X-ray diffraction are well established.
Academic text (1995) -
And the robot arm can toss a sample of soil into this device and it can take an X-ray diffraction pattern on Mars.
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The patterns observed in x-ray diffraction reflect the microscopic structure of different phases of matter in the sample.
Academic text (1995) -
White accretions on this piece were determined by X-ray diffraction to be a kind of salt created by the clay and firing technique.
Academic text (2003) -
Evidence for this long-sought form of ice has finally been obtained by infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction at high pressure.
Academic text (1998) -
And Max von Laue in 1912 used x-ray diffraction to show that a crystal was a periodic array of atoms.
Academic text (2006) -
With just one electron per atom, hydrogen, the most abundant element in biomolecules, is all but invisible in X-ray diffraction patterns.
Academic text (2003)
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is compositionally straightforward: it denotes the diffraction (wave bending/scattering) phenomenon applied to X-rays. A learner who knows 'X‑ray' and 'diffraction' can therefore infer that this refers to X‑rays being diffracted (even if they may not know the specific crystallographic application), so the core meaning is transparent.
Etymology
X-ray diffraction comes from a simple picture: very small rays called X-rays hit the neat rows of atoms in a crystal and are bent and spread out, which is diffraction, making a pattern of spots. Scientists study that pattern to find where the atoms are, so the phrase means 'to find the crystal's structure'.