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Howdie folks: I'm preparing my annual X-ray diffraction lectures, and am at the point where one replaces the atomic scattering factor with the integrated electron density. It has always bothered me how this is a bit obscure, since it really lies at the heart of the physical description. Is there a straightforward way to explain this? I've vacillated between two approaches. One is to make the analogy to Fraunhofer diffraction, and the other is to make use of the First- Order Born Approximation (which is the quantum-mechanical analogue, and seems more intuitive to me). Both of these seem to confuse students, because (unfortunately) they don't seem to teach these things to undergraduates any more, and they are a bit convoluted (so to speak). Is there a better way? Thanks in advance. Bill