Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Homogeneous Nucleation Of Water Vapor In Inert Gas Atmospheres, Arthur Henry Biermann

Doctoral Dissertations

"The homogeneous nucleation of water vapor in atmospheres of helium, neon, argon, krypton, and xenon was studied using an expansion type cloud chamber. A strong dependence of the nucleation rate on the particular inert carrier gas was observed. At present the only dependence upon the nature of the carrier gas included in classical nucleation theories is a small factor arising from kinetic considerations which is in the wrong direction to explain the observations. To explain the dependence of the rate on the nature of the carrier gas, a molecular cluster model is assumed allowing inert gas atoms to occupy the …