Using a TV Set to Show Electron Diffraction

Abstract

We show the feasibility of constructing a simple set-up to demonstrate the diffraction of electrons starting from a standard TV set. Two concentric rings around a central maxima appears on the screen of the modified TV set corresponding to atomic planes (1, 0, 0) and (1, 1, 0) of a hexagonal structure of graphite sample. A reasonable Planck’s constant value is determined through the slope of a plot of λd2 vs 1/V where we used the average Bragg wavelength for both diffraction rings for each value of accelerating voltage. Since wave particle behavior of matter is shown, we believe this simple set-up is useful for introductory physics courses at high school and undergraduate levels.