Mercury droplets, nucleation

Figure 4.7 Mercury droplets formed on a spherical Pt single-crystal electrode. Nuclei are formed at nuc = mV, fnuc = 1-5 ms, and then grown at >7growtfa = 20 mV, fgrowth = 3 s. [4.37). Preferential nucleation is clearly seen on the (111) crystallographic zones.

Fig. 9.2 - Schematic free energy curves for the homogeneous nucleation and growth of a spherical mercury droplet from the vapour phase. The contributions to the total free energy made by the surface and the volume are shown on a reduced scale.

The fonnation of wetting layers in mercury vapor is one example of heterogeneous behavior that is strongly influenced by the liquid-vapor critical point and the MNM transition. Another is the formation of dense liquid droplets in supersaturated metal vapor. The gradual size-dependent transition to metallic properties of isolated metal clusters (described in Sec. 4.7 for mercury clusters) should play an important role in the kinetics of the vapor-liquid phase transition of metals. As droplets grow during homogeneous nucleation in a supersaturated metal vapor, the MNM transition must affect the interparticle interactions. 

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