Necessity of the Self-Consistency Correction in Nucleation Rates Based on the Capillarity Approximation
Abstract
Requiring self-consistency, i.e., enforcing ΔG(1)=0 where ΔG(n) is the Gibbs free energy for forming a n-cluster of the stable phase, typically introduces a correction factor of 10^4 to the classical nucleation rate for the formation of liquid droplets in gases, but the self-consistency correction is not usually applied to other systems. This talk presents a kinetic argument that shows a self-consistency correction factor is necessary in all nucleation theories based on the capillarity approximation, including, for example, the classical theories of heterogeneous nucleation, solid-solid nucleation, and cavitation.
- Publication:
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APS March Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- March 1998
- Bibcode:
- 1998APS..MAR..A907W