The selfdiffusion coefficient and viscosity of the hard sphere fluid revisited: a comparison with experimental data for xenon, methane, ethene and trichloromethane

Abstract

The application of the hard sphere model for diffusion in dense liquids is reexamined in the light of the newly published molecular dynamics simulation data of Erpenbeck and Wood. Molecular diameters obtained from xenon and trichloromethane selfdiffusion data are now found to be in better agreement with those similarly obtained by fitting shear viscosity data to the combined molecular dynamics results of Alder, Gass and Wainwright and of Michels and Trappeniers. In contradiction to previous conclusions, methane appears to show some coupling of translational and rotational motion in the liquid state. Liquid ethene and trichloromethane also show such coupling. The limitations of the model and its application are also discussed.