On Tuesday 11 November 2003 04:21 pm, Steven Sangyun Lim wrote:

I am analyzing cobalt. As I spoke with you before, I got the coordination number of cobalt foil as around 9 instead of 12. You explained me why it can happen. What I want to know is If we got coordination number as 5 for a sample we are interested in and got the cobalt foil coordination number as 9, can I proportionally correct the value? (Consider 9 as 12 and multiply 5 by the ratio) Or just disregard the foil's coordination number? Could you please let me know what would be the better way to get the correct value?

Steven, This is the sort of question for which we created the mailing list, so I am forwarding it and my brief answer there. If you are not already subscribed, you might find it useful to do so. The simple answer is "probably". The point of measuring a standard under identical conditions to the sample is to recognize any systematic effects in the measurement, the smaple, the detectors, or the theory. If all else besides the sample is equal, then you can probably make the argument you suggest above. It will be, of course, incumbant upon you to convince your reader that what you did was reasonable when you publish. You most certainly CANNOT cite "Bruce Ravel, private communication" as your justification!!! That said, if you want more specific help from the crowd on the mailing list, you may wish to provide some more specifics about the details of your problem. B -- Bruce Ravel ----------------------------------- ravel@phys.washington.edu Code 6134, Building 3, Room 222 Naval Research Laboratory phone: (1) 202 767 5947 Washington DC 20375, USA fax: (1) 202 767 1697 NRL Synchrotron Radiation Consortium (NRL-SRC) Beamlines X11a, X11b, X23b National Synchrotron Light Source Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973 My homepage: http://feff.phys.washington.edu/~ravel EXAFS software: http://feff.phys.washington.edu/~ravel/software/exafs/