Abstract
The X-ray powder pattern of a partially combusted coal product has been separated into its diffraction component (caused by die crystalline minerals present in the sample) and its amorphous scattering component which is due to the fixed carbon retained in the sample. Analysis of the atompair intensity of the amorphous scattering component indicates that the molecular scatterer(s) in the fixed carbon fraction are similar, at least in short range structural details, to those in an amorphous carbon black sample which was prepared by high temperature combustion of polynuclear aromatic materials.