Kinetics in Materials Systems

In the text there are two examples where water molecules are changed from the
gaseous state to the liquid state. In one example this is done by homogeneous
nucleation of supersaturated atmosphere. In the other it is done by the
nucleation of water drops by supercooling.
In the Supersaturated example, supersaturation (S) at 300K was determined using
p
the formula S= p =4 (Readey). The ∆ G v was approximately -2E8 J/m3 (Readey).
e

From the graph provided by Readey, the nucleation rate is approximately zero
right up until supersaturation. At supersaturation the nucleation rate climbs
exponentially. The calculated value for nucleation rate was 2E16 nuclei/m3/s
(Readey)
In the supercooling example the equilibrium temperature was 300K where
supersaturation was equal to 1 (Readey). The ∆ G v was approximately 2E8 J/m3
(Readey), the opposite of that for supersaturation. From the graph provided by
Readey, the nucleation rate was approximately zero up until 275K where
supercooling occurred. The calculated nucleation rate was 1.5E16 nuclei/m 3/s
(this could be rounded up to 2E16, to be the same as supersaturation example).
For nucleation of a supersaturated solution, degree of supersaturation of the
vapour is the driving force. For nucleation by supercooling, the degree of
supercooling is the driving force. Considering the gibbs free energy to be a generic
driving force, both methods of nucleation can be said to be similar. Their graphs
show the same general trend of zero nucleation rate until either the desired
degree of supersaturation or desired degree of supercooling is obtained. When
the desired degree is obtained, both graphs show exponential increase of
nucleation rate in the same way. Also, both methods of nucleation had the same
absolute ∆ G v value. Proof for this is in the equations for ∆ G v for each method. For
the supersaturation method, gibbs free energy function depends on the degree of
supersaturation. For the supercooling method, the gibbs free energy function
depends on the degree of supercooling. Lastly, the two examples’ nucleation
rates were approximately the same.