Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-materials-science-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2017/paper-1/3/c/solution
Past exam of the materials science course of the University of Cambridge 2017 Paper 1 3 c Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-20
Randomly oriented crystallites supply planes with their normals in each required scattering-vector direction. Of the five families considered, , and can therefore give accessible copper powder peaks; remains absent and remains beyond a roughly detector limit. Other allowed families also appear if their Bragg angles lie inside the instrument range; orientation averaging does not restrict the pattern to these five examples.
Only a small fraction of randomly oriented crystal grains satisfy the Bragg condition for a given detector setting, and each family scatters around a cone rather than concentrating all its intensity into one single-crystal spot. A narrow detector aperture therefore receives a relatively weak signal from a small powder specimen compared with a well-oriented large single crystal. Adequate crystal grain statistics, longer counting, suitable powder packing and detector acceptance matter. The odd-parity peaks additionally involve the difference of ionic scattering factors. No absolute single-crystal/powder intensity ratio follows without illuminated volumes, absorption and instrumental geometry.
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