Calculations of the density of alloys based on
Bernal-type models of the alloy‘s metal component
agreed fairly well with the experimentally determined
Line values from measurements on alloys consisting of a
noble metal together with a metalloid, such as alloys of
palladium and silicon, or alloys consisting of iron,
phosphorus, and carbon, although small discrepancies
remained. One difference between real alloys and the
hard spheres used in Bernal models is that the
components of an alloy have different sizes, so that
models based on two sizes of spheres are more
appropriate for a binary alloy, for example. The smaller
metalloid atoms of the alloy might fit into holes in the
dense, random-packed structure of the larger metal
atoms.
4. The author's speculation about the appropriateness
of models using spheres of two sizes for binary
alloys would be strongly supported if models using
spheres of two sizes yielded
○A values for density identical to values yielded by
one-sphere models using the smaller spheres
only
○B values for density agreeing nearly perfectly with
experimentally determined values
○C values for density agreeing nearly perfectly with
values yielded by models using spheres of
three sizes
○D significantly different values for density depending
on the size ratio between the two kinds of spheres
used
○E the same values for density as the values for
appropriately chosen models that use only
medium-sized spheres