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Welcome to our Physics lesson on What is the Compton Effect?, this is the first lesson of our suite of physics lessons covering the topic of The Compton Effect and Pressure of Light, you can find links to the other lessons within this tutorial and access additional physics learning resources below this lesson.
As we know from tutorial 12.7, the X-rays (otherwise known as Roentgen rays) represent a type of EM radiation of a much smaller wavelength than visible light. Their range varies from 0.1 nm to 0.02 nm, i.e. they are from 1000 to 20 000 times smaller than visible light. When this radiation falls on crystals, it interacts with the electrons of crystal atoms or molecules. As a result, the incident radiation scatters in different directions from the original. This scattered radiation is also known as "diffuse radiation". It is made up by two components: one has the same wavelength as the incident radiation and it is called the "coherent component" while the other has a greater wavelength than the incident radiation and is called "non-coherent component" of the diffused radiation.
The coherent component is obtained by the interaction of the incident radiation with the strongly bonded electrons to the atomic nucleus. These electrons are found in abundance in dielectric and semiconductor crystals but also in metals, in deep electronic layers. On the other hand, the non-coherent component of scattered radiation is obtained through the interaction of the incident X-radiation with the weakly bonded electrons such as the valence electrons of metal or graphite crystals.
The non-coherent scattering in graphite crystals was discovered by Arthur H. Compton in 1923. This is one of characteristic phenomena where EM radiation manifests its particle / quantum nature.
You have reached the end of Physics lesson 19.3.1 What is the Compton Effect?. There are 5 lessons in this physics tutorial covering The Compton Effect and Pressure of Light, you can access all the lessons from this tutorial below.
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