The X-ray Structure Factor of Liquid Glycerol

Abstract

The X-ray scattering intensity from highly viscous, liquid glycerol has been measured using MoKα-radiation (0.2 < qÅ < 10) between 250 K and 350 K. The corrected spectra were Fourier transformed to obtain the atomic radial distribution function. For increasing temperatures one observes an increase of the X-ray intensity before the first structure maximum, and a broadening and a shift to lower-q-values of the main peak, while the peak height remains nearly constant. The temperature dependent structure factors are compared with a model calculation, which in a simple way gives the correct compressibility limit. From the fits to the structure maximum the existence of orientational correlations is inferred.