Condensation of water vapour in the presence of dust-free air and other gases

Abstract

In a note read before the Cambridge Philosophical Society (May 13, 1895) I stated, as the result of some preliminary experiments, that when air, originally saturated with aqueous vapour, undergoes sudden expansion exceeding a certain critical amount, condensation takes place in the form of drops throughout the moist air, even in the absence of all foreign nuclei. The present paper contains an account of the measurements which were afterwards made of this critical expansion in air and other gases, as well as of further phenomena which have since been observed in connection with the condensation of aqueous vapour from the supersaturated state.