Taking inspiration from X-ray crystallography

Dear Parents,

Today at Cogitania in Quantum Mechanics the students learned about x-rays and their use in identifying crystal structures through x-ray diffractometry. We went through the derivation of Bragg’s Law, which explains the Laue spots that are formed upon diffraction of x-rays from planes of electrons. After, the students used laser pointers and special diffraction gratings to conduct an analogous experiment to the observations of Rosalind Franklin used to discover the structure of DNA. The students successfully deduced the diffraction pattern and used this to predict the diffraction pattern for DNA, which was “experimentally” found with the last slide of the optical transform kit.

warmly,
Joanna