The polymerization transition of liquid sulfur has been observed at the microscopic level, through a change in the local order as a function of the temperature. A diffraction measurement using hot source neutrons ({λ}=0.709 A{}) has been performed to determine the pair correlation function. The third peak of this pair correlation function exhibits a drastic drop with increasing temperature that reflects directly the decrease of the concentration of the sulfur atoms in the S₈ rings when the rings are progressively breaking into long chains.
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Bellissent et al. (1990) studied this question.