The static structure factors of liquid alkali metals have been modelled at temperatures close to their melting points and a few higher temperatures using the reverse Monte Carlo (RMC) method. The positions of 5000 atoms in a box, with full periodicity, were altered until the experimental diffraction data of the structure factor agrees with the associated model structure factor within the errors. The model generated is then analysed.

The position of the first peak of the pair distribution function g(r) does not show any significant temperature dependence and the mean bond lengths can be approximated within an interval of 3.6–5.3 Å, 4.5–6.6 Å, 4.8–6.7 Å and 5.1–7.3 Å for Na, K, Rb and Cs respectively. The cosine bond distributions show similar trend with the flattening up of the first peak with increase in temperature. In addition, the coordination numbers of these liquid metals are high due to the presence of non-covalent bonding between them. On the average, we surmise that the coordination number decreases with increase in temperature