New (and easy) way to calculate the size of the critical crystal nucleus.

What is it about?

It is well-known that, under any given supersaturation, the size of the critical nucleus of the arising new phase depends on the value of the interphase free energy. Therefore, the classical way of calculating the nucleus size uses this energy value. However, the problem is that the interface free energy per se is size-dependent. Fortunately, a new possibility to calculate the critical nucleus size without using interface free energy is revealed in this paper. The new theoretical approach uses the point in Gibbs's graph (which shows the change in the free energy of the crystal depending on its size) in which the volumetric energy of the embryonic crystal balances its surface energy. In this way, it is shown that the size of the critical nucleus is two-thirds of the size of the completely stable crystal nucleus (which is calculated from the balance between the volumetric and surface energies).

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Why is it important?

As surprising as it may be, until now no one had paid (the necessary) attention to the significance of the point in Gibbs's graph (showing the change in the free energy of the crystal depending on its size) in which the volumetric energy of the embryonic crystal balances its surface energy. The significance of this point is demonstrated in this paper.

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