Moseley's Law
Definition
The square root of the characteristic X-ray frequency varies linearly with atomic number Z. Discovered by Henry Moseley in 1913, it is what turns an X-ray emission spectrum into an elemental identification rather than a guess. Lets a spectrometer assign every line to a Z value with confidence.
Related terms
- Bragg's Law
- nλ = 2d sin(θ). A monochromatic X-ray beam diffracted off the parallel lattice planes of a crystal produces constructive interference only at...
- Characteristic X-Ray
- An X-ray photon emitted when an outer-shell electron drops into an inner-shell vacancy created by ionisation. Energy is set by the difference...
- EDXRF vs WDXRF
- Energy-dispersive XRF reads all photon energies in parallel with a Si(Li) or silicon-drift detector; fast, cheap, lower resolution. Wavelength-dispersive XRF uses a...
- GSR Pb-Sb-Ba Signature
- The classical elemental signature of inorganic gunshot residue: lead from the bullet core, antimony from the priming compound, barium from the priming...
- ICDD PDF-4
- The Powder Diffraction File maintained by the International Centre for Diffraction Data. A reference database of more than 400,000 crystalline phases that...
Explained in
- X-Ray Spectroscopy: XRF, XRD and X-Ray AbsorptionThe square root of the characteristic X-ray frequency varies linearly with atomic number Z. Discovered by Henry Moseley in 1913, it is what turns an X-ray emis...