high temperature X-ray powder diffraction camera
Datecirca 1955
Inventory Number2004-1-0326
ClassificationX-Ray Diffraction Camera
Subject
Maker
Otto Von der Hyde
born c. 1901
User
Mineralogical Museum, Harvard University
founded circa 1775
Cultural Region
Place of Origin
Place of Use
Dimensions21.3 × 15.2 × 12.8 cm (8 3/8 × 6 × 5 1/16 in.)
Material
DescriptionUpright circular chamber fixed on a solid base and mounted on a track. The cylindrical part has two diametrically opposed orifices in which there are screwed two pinhole collimators. On top there are two screws, one used to fix the X-ray film, and the second to center the sample holder; there are also two metal tubes through which some cooling agent is circulated. At the back of the cylinder there are two extra knobs. In front of the camera, in the centre of the circular opening, a metal hub with an insulating core is screwed in. Through the center of the hub pass two electrical wires used probably as a thermistor. The crystal powder specimen was mounted behind the hub, and aligned on the same axis with the X-ray collimators.
FunctionAn X-ray diffraction camera is generally used to determine the atomic arrangement of crystals. Variable temperature X-ray crystallography aims to determine the thermal expansion properties 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 powder X-ray camera (also known as a Debye-Scherrer camera) consists of a light-tight cylindrical 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 axis of the cylinder. A fine beam of X-rays, produced by passing the beam through a metal collimator, is scattered on the sample. The measurements can be repeated using the second collimator. The pattern of lines on the photograph 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 powder X-ray camera (also known as a Debye-Scherrer camera) consists of a light-tight cylindrical 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 axis of the cylinder. A fine beam of X-rays, produced by passing the beam through a metal collimator, is scattered on the sample. The measurements can be repeated using the second collimator. The pattern of lines on the photograph represents possible values of the Bragg angles that satisfy Bragg's law .
ProvenanceCarl Francis, Mineralogical Museum, Harvard University
Mineralogical Museum, Harvard University
Date: circa 1950
Object number: 2004-1-0334
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
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
Mineralogical Museum, Harvard University
Date: circa 1955
Object number: 2004-1-0319
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
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
Brian J. Skinner
Date: circa 1956
Accessories: reprint of paper on instrument and use in file.
Object number: 1997-1-1716
Otto van der Heide
Date: before 1947
Object number: 1996-1-0151
Clifford Frondel
Date: ca. 1925-1940
Accessories: metal 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
Object number: 1997-1-1725