The Classical Theory

Publisher Summary This chapter outlines the theoretical framework for the most commonly used theory of nucleation—the classical theory. Phase transformations in the region of metastability are initiated within the original phase by the nucleation of the small regions of the new phase, which then grow to macroscopic dimensions. The nucleation barrier arises from the energy penalty for creating an interface between the cluster and the original phase. If the phase transition is thermodynamically favored, sufficiently large clusters of the new phase must have a free energy lower than the same atoms retaining the configuration of the original phase. However, the atoms in the region of the interface between the original and new phases are in a higher energy state than they would have in the two macroscopic phases. Fluctuations are not limited to the metastable region; they also occur in systems in equilibrium. However, only under metastable conditions there is an extended range of stability for fluctuations combined with a characteristic energy barrier to give the distinctive phenomena of nucleation.

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