Relation of the Liquid to the Crystalline State

Abstract

IN a recent note E. Gross has found that the Debye elastic heat waves also give rise to modified scattering in liquids.¹ The fact that electromagnetic waves are modified by the elastic heat waves shows that the origin of the latter in liquids is also electrical and akin to lattice oscillations in crystals. In order to explain facts connected with X-ray diffraction in liquids, it was found that a liquid has to be regarded as a broken up crystal in which there is thermodynainic equilibrium between heat motion and forces of crystal formation.² It was seen both theoretically and from observations on X-ray diffraction that there is a maximum in the molecular arrangements in liquids corresponding to the structure of the substance in the crystal state. It is evident that this partial crystallinity of liquids is responsible for the modified scattering found by Gross. It is, therefore, expected that those liquids which produce sharp diffraction effects should also produce sharp modified lines, and it will be interesting to see whether that comes out true.