On the density anomaly in sulfur at the polymerization transition

Abstract

We show that the density anomaly in sulfur near the polymerization transition observed by Borst and co-workers can be explained, at least in part, as a manifestation of nonclassical critical behavior. We combine the lattice solution model recently proposed to study equilibrium polymerization in sulfur with a phenomenological assumption to produce a dramatic improvement over earlier theories. Some discrepancies between the theory and experiment remain.