Bragg's law

E162846

diffraction law physical law

Bragg's law is a fundamental equation in X-ray crystallography that relates the angles at which X-rays are diffracted by crystal lattice planes to the spacing between those planes.

Try in SPARQL Jump to: Surface forms Disambiguation Statements Elicitation Referenced by

All labels observed (6)

Label	Occurrences
Bragg law	5
Bragg's law canonical	3
Bragg angle	2
Bragg diffraction	2
Bragg reflection	1
Bragg scattering	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1414605 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Bragg's law
Context triple: [Lawrence Bragg, knownFor, Bragg's law]

A. Snell’s law of refraction
Snell’s law of refraction is a fundamental principle in optics that relates the angles of incidence and refraction to the refractive indices of two media, governing how light bends when passing between them.
B. Poisson spot
Poisson spot is a bright point of light that appears at the center of the shadow of a circular object due to wave diffraction, providing striking evidence for the wave nature of light.
C. Davisson–Germer experiment
The Davisson–Germer experiment was a landmark 1927 physics experiment that demonstrated the wave nature of electrons through diffraction from a nickel crystal, providing key evidence for quantum mechanics and wave–particle duality.
D. Fraunhofer diffraction
Fraunhofer diffraction is the far-field diffraction pattern of waves, typically light, observed when both the source and observation screen are effectively at infinite distance or made so with lenses, producing characteristic interference patterns.
E. Babinet's principle
Babinet's principle is a fundamental concept in wave optics stating that the diffraction pattern from an opaque object is identical to that from a complementary aperture of the same shape, apart from the overall intensity.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Bragg's law
Target entity description: Bragg's law is a fundamental equation in X-ray crystallography that relates the angles at which X-rays are diffracted by crystal lattice planes to the spacing between those planes.

A. Snell’s law of refraction
Snell’s law of refraction is a fundamental principle in optics that relates the angles of incidence and refraction to the refractive indices of two media, governing how light bends when passing between them.
B. Poisson spot
Poisson spot is a bright point of light that appears at the center of the shadow of a circular object due to wave diffraction, providing striking evidence for the wave nature of light.
C. Davisson–Germer experiment
The Davisson–Germer experiment was a landmark 1927 physics experiment that demonstrated the wave nature of electrons through diffraction from a nickel crystal, providing key evidence for quantum mechanics and wave–particle duality.
D. Fraunhofer diffraction
Fraunhofer diffraction is the far-field diffraction pattern of waves, typically light, observed when both the source and observation screen are effectively at infinite distance or made so with lenses, producing characteristic interference patterns.
E. Babinet's principle
Babinet's principle is a fundamental concept in wave optics stating that the diffraction pattern from an opaque object is identical to that from a complementary aperture of the same shape, apart from the overall intensity.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (51)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	diffraction law ⓘ physical law ⓘ
appliesTo	X-rays ⓘ electron diffraction ⓘ neutron diffraction ⓘ
assumes	coherent scattering from lattice planes ⓘ elastic scattering of radiation ⓘ
basedOn	constructive interference condition ⓘ
conditionFor	constructive interference of scattered waves ⓘ
defines	d as spacing between lattice planes ⓘ n as order of reflection ⓘ θ as Bragg angle ⓘ θ as angle between incident beam and lattice planes ⓘ λ as wavelength of incident radiation ⓘ
describes	X-ray diffraction by crystal lattice planes ⓘ
discoveredBy	William Henry Bragg ⓘ Lawrence Bragg ⓘ surface form: William Lawrence Bragg
equation	nλ = 2d sin θ ⓘ
field	X-ray crystallography ⓘ crystallography ⓘ materials science ⓘ solid-state physics ⓘ
implies	path difference equals integer multiple of wavelength ⓘ
namedAfter	William Henry Bragg ⓘ Lawrence Bragg ⓘ surface form: William Lawrence Bragg
relatedConcept	Bragg's law self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: Bragg angle Bragg's law self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: Bragg reflection Laue equations ⓘ Miller indices conventions ⓘ surface form: Miller indices powder diffraction ⓘ reciprocal lattice ⓘ single-crystal diffraction ⓘ structure factor ⓘ
relates	diffraction angle to interplanar spacing ⓘ order of diffraction to path difference ⓘ wavelength of radiation to diffraction angle ⓘ
symbol	d ⓘ n ⓘ θ ⓘ λ ⓘ
usedFor	determining interplanar spacing in crystals ⓘ indexing diffraction peaks ⓘ measuring lattice parameter changes ⓘ measuring lattice strain ⓘ phase identification in powder diffraction ⓘ structure determination of crystals ⓘ
usedIn	X-ray powder diffraction analysis ⓘ electron crystallography ⓘ neutron scattering experiments ⓘ single-crystal X-ray diffraction ⓘ
yearProposed	1913 ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (14)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Lawrence Bragg → knownFor → Bragg's law ⓘ

Lawrence Bragg → notableConcept → Bragg's law ⓘ

this entity surface form: Bragg angle

Davisson–Germer experiment → usedConcept → Bragg's law ⓘ

this entity surface form: Bragg diffraction

Davisson–Germer experiment → usedConcept → Bragg's law ⓘ