Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 10, 2026

An Analog Macroscopic Technique for Studying Molecular Hydrodynamic Processes in Dense Gases and Liquids
Published on: December 4, 2017
Kinetic theory of nucleation based on a first passage time analysis: improvement by the density-functional theory
1Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, The State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York 14260, USA.
Abstract:
A recent kinetic theory of nucleation [see, e.g., E. Ruckenstein and B. Nowakowski, J. Colloid Interface Sci. 137, 583 (1990)] is based on molecular interactions and avoids the traditional thermodynamics. The rate of emission of molecules from a cluster is found via a first passage time analysis. This time is calculated by solving the single-molecule master equation for the probability distribution function of a surface molecule located in the potential field created by the cluster. The liquid cluster was assumed to have sharp boundaries and uniform density. In the present paper, this assumption is removed by using the density-functional theory to find the density profiles. Thus, more accurate calculations of the potential field created by the cluster, its emission rate, and nucleation rate are obtained. The modified theory is illustrated by numerical calculations for a molecular pair interaction potential combining the dispersive attraction with the hard-sphere repulsion.
Related Concept Videos
Basic Postulates of Kinetic Molecular Theory: Particle Size, Energy, and Collision
Kinetic Molecular Theory: Molecular Velocities, Temperature, and Kinetic Energy
Predicting Reaction Outcomes
Kinetic Theory of an Ideal Gas
The number of molecules in one mole is called Avogadro's number...
The Kinetic Model of Gases
Transition State Theory

