Structure of Vitreous Silica

Abstract

DURING the last fifteen years, the diffraction of X-rays by vitreous silica has been the subject of many investigations. Parmelee, Clark and Badger1 obtained one band with a spacing of 7.1 A. and a faint one corresponding to 2.5 A. Randall, Rooksby and Cooper2 obtained one band at 4.33 A. with copper Kα radiation, while with molybdenum Kα radiation another faint band at about 1.5 A. was observed. They believe that the faint band obtained with molybdenum Kα radiation is spurious and that the only one on which reliance can be placed is that at 4.33 A. Warren, Krutter and Morningstar3 obtained one principal band at sin θ/λ = 0.122. Using an ionization spectrometer, Hartleif4 obtained two principal bands at sin θ/λ = 0.06 and 0.122 respectively. In view of the widely inconsistent results reported by different authors, the structure of vitreous silica appears interesting and worthy of thorough study. The present investigation gives results which differ in many respects from those of previous workers.