Homework Help Forum: Science

Posted by Christopher on Saturday, April 11, 2009 at 3:50pm.

A scientist needs to take a picture of the well-ordered arrangements of the atoms and molecules within a substance. What instrument would be best for a scientist to use?

• Science - SraJMcGin, Saturday, April 11, 2009 at 4:36pm

  X-ray photography? "to take a picture" implies some sort of camera, wouldn't it? Sra

  
  

• Science - drwls, Saturday, April 11, 2009 at 4:38pm

  X-ray crystallography, when the arrangement is well-ordered. There will be scattering in certain directions only, and the scattering pattern can be used with mathematical procedures to deduce the molecular and atomic arrangement in three dimeneions. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-ray_crystallography There are also new methods of tunneling scanning electron microscopy for imaging surface atomic patterns directly. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scanning_tunneling_microscope

  
  

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