Celebrating Crystallography – An adventure in structural analysis

One of the great innovations of the twentieth century is likely not well-known, but this video from the Ri Channel is looking to change that:

This is X-ray crystallography. 

Discovered in 1913 by William and Lawrence Bragg, x-ray crystallography is a technique that reveals the atomic and molecular structure of a crystal. When a narrow beam of x-rays is shown through the crystal, it diffracts into a pattern of rays through the other side. 

“To date 28 Nobel Prizes have been awarded to projects related to the field” and 100 years after its discovery, the Curiosity Rover is using x-ray crystallography to analyze soil on Mars.

Science! And if you haven’t seen these yet, we’ve shared some of our favorite science videos for kids over at RiChannel.org, where they know great science videos.

Thanks, Robert.