A dynamical model of a crystal structure

Abstract

The crystal structure of a metal is represented by an assemblage of bubbles, a millimetre or less in diameter, floating on the surface of a soap solution. The bubbles are blown from a fine pipette beneath the surface with a constant air pressure, and are remarkably uniform in size. They are held together by surface tension, either in a single layer on the surface or in a three-dimensional mass. An assemblage may contain hundreds of thousands of bubbles and persists for an hour or more. The assemblages show structures which have been supposed to exist in metals, and simulate effects which have been observed, such as grain boundaries, disloca­tions and other types of fault, slip, recrystallization, annealing, and strains due to ‘foreign’ atoms.