In 1913 the Braggs determined the crystal structure of sodium chloride. They were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1915. However, as late as 1927, the following letter appeared in Nature.
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I recently became aware of this in Crystallography: A Very Short Introduction by A.M. Glazer.
[chuckle chuckle] Since there are no comments ....
ReplyDeleteThis is an old one! I remember it well from grad school, where the first molecule I worked on was ... NaCl! And yes, these were real, discrete, molecules in the gas phase. They reacted in molecular beams with K, Rb, or Cs to make KCl, RbCl, or CsCl, and we showed that "long lasting complexes" (in physics called "resonances") were produced.
So yes, Virginia, there really ARE NaCl molecules!