A Monte Carlo study of the scaling of nucleation rates in a Lennard-Jones system

<p>Temperature scaling of the homogenous vapor-to-liquid nucleation rate, J, is examined in a model Lennard-Jones (LJ) system. The model uses the Bennett Metropolis Monte Carlo technique to determine small cluster growth/decay rate constant ratios ß_n-1|α_n at four temperatures (T = 40, 50, 60, and 83.6K) below the argon Lennard-Jones critical temperature, T_c. The ß_n-1|α_n for clusters ranging in size from n = 2 to n = 192 LJ particles are applied to a kinetic steady-state nucleation rate formalism and nucleation rates are determined at the same four temperatures. When these rates are plotted first in the standard way vs. <em>lnS</em>, (where S is the ratio of ambient to coexistence vapor pressure) and then vs. the <em>scaled supersaturation</em>, <em>lnS</em> / [T_c/T-1]^3/2, the values of logJ are found to collapse onto a single line. This demonstrates that the nucleation rate is a function of <em>lnS</em> / [T_c/T-1]^3/2 -- rather than of the independent variables, S and T. A similar scaling has been observed in the experimental nucleation rate data of water and toluene. The present study is the first simulation based demonstration of vapor to liquid nucleation rate temperature scaling in a model dilute vapor system and provides insight into the "law of mass action" model assumptions which give rise to the scaling.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph. D. in Physics

Grantor

Missouri University of Science and Technology

Year dc:date.available

2016

Author dc:creator

• Thomason, Mark Allan

• Physics

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/doctoral_dissertations/2025

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarsmine.mst.edu:doctoral_dissertations-3027