The Cybotactic Condition of Ethyl Ether in the Region of the Critical Point

X-ray diffraction-ionization current curves have been taken at thirty-seven combinations of values of pressure, temperature and specific volume in the neighborhood of the critical point of ethyl ether. The results have been interpreted on the basis of the cybotactic view of molecular organization in liquids. It has been found that the groups are very sensitive to changes in specific volume but show much less dependence on temperature and pressure; that the groups disappear at approximately the same specific volume at various values of temperature and pressure; that groups may appear in the gaseous state; and that beyond a certain specific volume no groups appear and the curves are of the gas type. Using the cybotactic view one secures a rather definite picture of what occurs in fluid in the neighborhood of its critical point.