Neutron Diffraction by Liquid Zinc

Abstract

The paper presents results on neutron diffraction by liquid zinc at 450°C. The measured structure factor differs greatly from the x-ray structure factor reported earlier, but agrees reasonably well with a theoretical Percus-Yevick structure factor for hard spheres. The electrical resistivity calculated using our structure factor is about half of the measured value. It does not seem that this large difference can be accounted for by small errors in the structure factor or the pseudopotential. Inadequacy of the Born approximation has been suggested as one possible cause of this disagreement, the other being rather large errors in the calculated pseudopotentials. The possibility of the existence of a law of corresponding states between various liquids is examined and found to be unlikely. An effort to explain the structure with a quasicrystalline model has met with qualitative success.