A dynamical model of a crystal structure[62]

by sir Lawrence Bragg, F.R.S. and J. F. Nye Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge

(Received 9 January 1947—Read 19 June 1947) [Plates 8 to 21]

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 threedimensional 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.