The Dynamic Structure Of Glassy Materials

The structure of inorganic glasses is commonly shown as a modified random network in which the cations occupy interstitial sites. This model is good for silicate and for similar "polymeric" oxide glasses, in emphasising the distinctions between bridging and non-bridging oxygens and between the mobile cations and the immobile anionic framework. But is such a simple picture adequate to the needs of modern glass science? In particular, is it a valid starting point given the new spectroscopic data that are available? These questions can be briefly addressed in this paper.