The Structure of Liquid Mercury

Abstract

The structure of liquid mercury has been determined by means of the diffraction of monochromatic molybdenum Kα x-radiation at −38°, 0°, 50°, 100°, 150°, and 200°C. The position of the first peak remains quite constant at 3.00A but the number of atoms in this first coordination layer varies between 6.0 and 5.3, giving the lowest coordination number yet found for any monatomic element in its normal liquid range.