Arrangement of Atoms and Molecules in Crystals demonstrated

This film produced by General Electric in 1930s, shows Sir William Henry Bragg, Director of the Royal Institution demonstrating the arrangement of atoms and molecules in crystals. Sir William Henry Bragg explains how x-rays can be used to see into the structure of solid bodies and how these structures help to determine their properties. He goes on to describes how groups of atoms and molecules meet together to form crystallization in many substances which we never would have thought would have had a crystalline structure. Bragg describes and shows the structure of diamond with the use of a model and how the atoms are arranged with respect to one another. It is this structure which helps to produce the unique properties of diamond which WH Bragg goes on to describe. The importance of creating models is further explained with the description of the structure of 'paraffins' and how traditionally in chemistry these were thought to be long chain compounds. With advances in x-rays, these organic substances can now be made in into model form and their precise structures determined. William Henry Bragg goes on to describe the difficulties in undertaking the x-ray crystallographic experiments on paraffins and other organic bodies to determine structure but that it is only natural for chemists to try and hence to complete a model of their structure. Bragg finishes the film by saying"x-rays can help him (organic chemist) by showing exactly how atoms are arranged, why then we are helping to advance the cause of scientific knowledge and that really is what this x-ray work is trying to do."