The Investigation of Electron Distribution in Atoms by Electron Diffraction

A procedure is developed for obtaining the radial distribution of electrons in free atoms from electron diffraction data which makes use of the similarity of the expressions characterizing the scattering of fast electrons and x-rays by atoms. Requirements are formulated pertaining to accuracy and angular range of data for such studies. A brief comparison is made of the method with the analogous x-ray method. Electron diffraction data for argon over the range of 0.9 to 44 in units of $\frac{\left(4\mathrm{}\pi sin\frac{1}{2}\theta \right)}{\lambda }$ are presented and found to give an experimental electron distribution resolving the $K$, $L$, and $M$ shells of argon in satisfactory agreement with the Hartree distribution.