Free Energy Change of Droplet Formation in a Supersaturated Vapor

Öz

The behavior of the pure substances during the condensation of liquid droplets in a supersaturated vapor and, the mechanism of homogeneous nucleation of vapor to liquid droplets that may occur as a result of large amplitude density fluctuations within the coexistence line in the metastable region have been investigated. The free energy change accompanying the formation of a critical water drop is calculated as a function of droplet radius for various saturation ratios on the basis of Fisher’s model (Fisher, 1967). It is observed that a geometric term due to the fact that the surface of a drop relaxes to spherical shape which reduces the total entropy associated with the surface free energy, produces significant changes in total free energy change of critical droplet formation.