Neutron Diffraction in Liquid Sulfur, Lead, and Bismuth

A new type of neutron diffraction instrument has been developed to minimize the disadvantage of the broad energy spectrum of available slow neutron sources. It has been used to study the neutron diffraction patterns of the elements sulfur, lead, and bismuth in the liquid state. The patterns have been interpreted in terms of the distribution in separation distance of neighboring pairs of atoms. The results are in reasonable agreement with x-ray diffraction of others. In liquid sulfur each atom has two nearest neighbors at 2.1A. In liquid lead there are 12 nearest neighbors at 3.4A. In liquid bismuth an atom has on the average eight neighbors within 4A, but the nearest neighbors are not well separated from those at greater distance.