Consistency check for radial distribution functions of water

From a relation between the thermal compressibility and radial distribution function, it is shown that the accuracy of the generally accepted Narten and Levy’s experimental radial distribution functions (RDFs) for water is very low, compared with newer experimental results. The most recent experimental RDFs obtained by Soper and Phillips not only pass the consistency check derived, but also have the best overall agreement with the simulated results of Lie and Clementi.