Kinetics of supersaturated vapor nucleation on molecular condensation nuclei

Abstract

The kinetics of nucleation is calculated for a supersaturated vapor containing molecular condensation nuclei, that is, foreign molecules able to induce the formation of viable nuclei of a condensed phase by themselves. In contrast to the previous calculation, the possibility of the escape of molecular condensation nuclei from very small clusters containing a few condensed vapor molecules is taken into account. More exact equations are derived for the rate of steady-state nucleation and the concentration of aerosol particles in a quasisteady-state regime of nucleation. The calculation demonstrates that, at a high probability of the escape of a molecular condensation nucleus, the predominating mechanism of cluster formation is the attachment of a molecular condensation nucleus to a cluster formed from vapor molecules rather than their condensation on the nucleus. At the same time, allowances for the possible escape of molecular condensation nuclei from clusters slightly affect the rate of nucleation and the concentration of aerosol particles being formed.