Doctoral Dissertations

Abstract

"Although nucleation phenomena are among the most widespread of all naturally occurring phenomena, even the simplest of nucleation processes, homogeneous nucleation, is poorly understood, particularly the homogeneous nucleation of liquid droplets from water vapor. Homogeneous nucleation involves only molecules of a single substance and does not include the complicating effects due to a substrate or piece of foreign matter. The semiphenomenological liquid drop theories developed nearly three decades ago differ in relatively minor details, with the crucial element of the theory being the derivation of the free energy of formation of the clusters. The clusters are viewed as well-defined incompressible spherical droplets which possess bulk properties. Such considerations do not take into account the details of the transition region at the interface between the two phases. Recent quantum statistical corrections to the theory are merely attempts to formulate a hybrid theory containing both bulk thermodynamic and quantum statistical considerations...In this dissertation, a statistical mechanical technique is developed from which the equilibrium concentrations of clusters of various sizes may be calculated if the bonding structure of the clusters can be predicted and the energy associated with the various structures are known"--Abstract, page ii-iii.

Advisor(s)

Kassner, James L.

Committee Member(s)

Zung, Joseph T.
Hatfield, Charles, 1920-1993
Lund, Louis H., 1919-1998
Illegible signature
Bell, Robert John, 1934-

Department(s)

Physics

Degree Name

Ph. D. in Physics

Sponsor(s)

National Science Foundation (U.S.)

Publisher

University of Missouri--Rolla

Publication Date

1969

Pagination

xi 101 pages

Note about bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 96-100).

Rights

© 1969 Richard Wayne Bolander, All rights reserved.

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

File Type

text

Language

English

Subject Headings

Cloud physics
Cluster theory (Nuclear physics)
Nucleation
Phase transformations (Statistical physics)

Thesis Number

T 2196

Print OCLC #

6008266

Electronic OCLC #

811256161

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