Wave Nature Of Electron

THE WAVE NATURE OF ELECTRON

de Broglie’s revolutionary suggestion that moving electrons had waves of definite wavelength

associated with them, was put to the acid test by Davison and Germer (1927). They demonstrated the

physical reality of the wave nature of electrons by showing that a beam of electrons could also be

diffracted by crystals just like light or X-rays. They observed that the diffraction patterns thus

obtained were just similar to those in case of X-rays. It was possible that electrons by their passage

through crystals may produce secondary X-rays, which would show diffraction effects on the

screen. Thomson ruled out this possibility, showing that the electron beam as it emerged from the

crystals, underwent deflection in the electric field towards the positively charged plate

Wednesday, 5 May 2021