THE TIME-DEPENDENT DIFFUSION THEORY FOR CONDENSATION ON SPHERICAL AND PLANE SURFACES

Abstract

The diffusion field and the temperature distribution are calculated for the surroundings of a pure solid or liquid phase at constant temperature growing into an infinitely extended binary fluid phase of different specific volume. The solutions for spherical condensates are applicable to the condensation from air of water vapor on ice crystals or water drops. It is demonstrated that the generally accepted quasi-stationary diffusion theory for spherical drops leads fortuitously to the correct growth law.