What occurs when electrons diffract through a crystal lattice, according to the Davison and Germer Experiment?

When electrons diffract through a crystal lattice, the phenomenon observed is the formation of maxima indicating interference. This outcome is a direct consequence of wave-like behavior exhibited by electrons, which was a key finding in the Davison and Germer experiment.

In this experiment, electrons were fired at a nickel crystal, and as they interacted with the crystal lattice, they exhibited patterns typical of wave interference. The crystal acts like a diffraction grating, causing the electrons to spread out into waves that can overlap and interfere with one another. As a result, constructive and destructive interference of these waves leads to the formation of specific patterns of bright and dark spots, or maxima and minima, on a detector screen. The presence of these interference patterns served to confirm the wave nature of electrons, supporting the duality theory of matter.

The appearance of interference maxima is a clear demonstration of the wave properties of particles such as electrons, and is fundamental in understanding quantum mechanics and the behavior of matter on a microscopic scale. The other choices do not relate to the outcome of the diffraction experiment, as they concern different physical phenomena or behaviors not observed in this context.