Question #70117

When 149-pm xrays are incident on a metal surface, a maximum diffraction angle of theta is equal to 28.5 degrees is produced. Assuming n=1, what is the separation between layers of metal atoms in this crystal lattice?

Expert's answer

The distance between layers of atoms in the crystal lattice can be calculated from the maximum
diffraction angle according to the Bragg's law:
where d is the distance between layers of atoms, λ is the wavelength. The value of sinθ can be
found from mathematical tables: sin(28.5°) ≈ 0.4772. So, we can now calculate d:
Answer: the separation between layers of metal atoms in this crystal lattice is 156.12 pm.
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