Structure factor measurements of liquid Cl₂ at high temperatures

Abstract

Neutron diffraction measurements have been performed on orthobaric liquid Cl₂ at 393 K and 412 K. The intermolecular structure factor, D _M(Q), and the atom-atom pair correlation function g(r) have been derived. The D _M(Q) reveals the presence of strong orientational correlations also at these high temperatures and low densities. Furthermore, the analysis of g(r) shows that the structure of liquid Cl₂ does not change appreciably along the coexistence curve from the triple point up to the critical. Comparison between the experimental g(r) and the results of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, using the A2 intermolecular potential, clearly indicates some inadequacies of this potential model even though it is able to reproduce the main features of the experimental g(r).