X-ray powder diffraction camera
Dateca. 1925-1940
Inventory Number1997-1-1725
ClassificationX-Ray Diffraction Camera
Subject
User
Clifford Frondel
?
1907 - 2002
Maker
American
Cultural Region
Place of Use
Dimensions6.5 × 13.8 × 14.3 cm (2 9/16 × 5 7/16 × 5 5/8 in.)
Material
Accessoriesmetal piece with screw, and piece of rock, in two archival baggies.
Reprint, A PRECISION X-RAY POWDER CAMERA by Clifford Frondel, American Mineralogist, 40:876-884 (1955), stored in instrument file, 1997-1-1721
DescriptionSemicircular chamber with a cylinder attached to the back that allows it to be mounted on a support. The sample holder is place on the diameter side, while an X-ray collimator is screwed in on the opposite side. There is an extra whole on the circumference, probably used to attach the X-ray film.
It is very rusted, and has some fragments of an insulating ceramic material attached.
It is very rusted, and has some fragments of an insulating ceramic material attached.
Signedunsigned
Curatorial RemarksOn tag: "history unknown 1930s".
FunctionAn X-ray diffraction camera can be used to determine the atomic arrangement of crystals.
The wavelength of an X-ray is similar in size to the distance between atoms in crystalline substances. Thus, by recording how a material scatters X-rays, and causes variation in their intensity, one may determine its crystal structure - the pattern by which its atoms are arranged as well as the precise distance between them.
This back-reflection X-ray powder camera consists of a light-tight semicylindrical enclosure which holds a strip of X-ray film accurately fixed on its perimeter. The specimen, usually a fine powder, is accurately placed on the diameter side of the semicircle. A fine beam of X-rays, produced by passing the beam through a metal collimator, is scattered on the sample. The pattern of lines on the photograph produced by the back-reflection represents possible values of the Bragg angles that satisfy Bragg's law .
The wavelength of an X-ray is similar in size to the distance between atoms in crystalline substances. Thus, by recording how a material scatters X-rays, and causes variation in their intensity, one may determine its crystal structure - the pattern by which its atoms are arranged as well as the precise distance between them.
This back-reflection X-ray powder camera consists of a light-tight semicylindrical enclosure which holds a strip of X-ray film accurately fixed on its perimeter. The specimen, usually a fine powder, is accurately placed on the diameter side of the semicircle. A fine beam of X-rays, produced by passing the beam through a metal collimator, is scattered on the sample. The pattern of lines on the photograph produced by the back-reflection represents possible values of the Bragg angles that satisfy Bragg's law .
ProvenanceNot referenced but very likely part of a group of x-ray diffraction cameras given by Prof. Clifford Frondel (1997-1-1716 to 1997-1-1726).
Clifford Frondel
Date: 1950
Accessories: Reprint, A PRECISION X-RAY POWDER CAMERA by Clifford Frondel, American Mineralogist, 40:876-884 (1955), stored in instrument file, 1997-1-1721
Object number: 1997-1-1721
Clifford Frondel
Date: 1930-1955
Accessories: loose part (knob) on shelf
Reprint, A PRECISION X-RAY POWDER CAMERA by Clifford Frondel, American Mineralogist, 40:876-884 (1955), stored in instrument file, 1997-1-1721
Object number: 1997-1-1722
Clifford Frondel
Date: 1950
Accessories: electrical cord
Reprint, A PRECISION X-RAY POWDER CAMERA by Clifford Frondel, American Mineralogist, 40:876-884 (1955), stored in instrument file, 1997-1-1721
Object number: 1997-1-1726
Clifford Frondel
Date: circa 1930
Accessories: Reprint, A PRECISION X-RAY POWDER CAMERA by Clifford Frondel, American Mineralogist, 40:876-884 (1955), stored in instrument file, 1997-1-1721
Object number: 1997-1-1724
Harry Berman
Date: circa 1934
Accessories: Reprint, A PRECISION X-RAY POWDER CAMERA by Clifford Frondel, American Mineralogist, 40:876-884 (1955), stored in instrument file, 1997-1-1721
Object number: 1997-1-1737
Harry Berman
Date: circa 1934
Accessories: Reprint, A PRECISION X-RAY POWDER CAMERA by Clifford Frondel, American Mineralogist, 40:876-884 (1955), stored in instrument file, 1997-1-1721
Object number: 1997-1-1738
Date: 1950
Accessories: Reprint, A PRECISION X-RAY POWDER CAMERA by Clifford Frondel, American Mineralogist, 40:876-884 (1955), stored in instrument file, 1997-1-1721
Object number: 1997-1-1723
Brian J. Skinner
Date: circa 1956
Accessories: reprint of paper on instrument and use in file.
Object number: 1997-1-1716
Otto Von der Hyde
Date: circa 1955
Object number: 2004-1-0326
Mineralogical Museum, Harvard University
Date: circa 1955
Object number: 2004-1-0321
Mineralogical Museum, Harvard University
Date: circa 1955
Accessories: knobs
Object number: 2004-1-0320