Mean Spherical Model and Structure Factor of Liquid Mercury and Aluminium

A closed form expression for S(k), the structure factor, has been derived, taking the square well potential as a perturbation in the mean spherical model approximation. This expression has been used to calculate the structure factor and radial distribution function, g(r), for liquid mercury and aluminium at various temperatures and densities. The very good agreement between theory and experiments suggests that the representation of the attractive tail by a square well potential is a satisfactory one and the concept of pairwise interactions is a useful tool in understanding some of the structural problems of liquid metals.