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Talk:Kelvin equation

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As r increases, p decreases and the droplets grow into bulk liquid.------this is faulty since p's change depends on whether the value of r is positive or negative.

Confusion about equation's name(s)

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The equation that appears in this article is NOT "Kelvin's equation". If you view Kelvin's equation of 1871 — Sir William Thomson (1871) "On the equilibrium of vapour at a curved surface of liquid," Philosophical Magazine, series 4, 42 (282) : 448-452 — you'll see that it does NOT have this form. The equation in this article is actually the Ostwald-Freundlich equation, which was developed in 1900 / 1909.

In another Wikipedia article, the Ostwald-Freundlich equation is listed as the Gibbs-Thomson equation. However, neither Gibbs nor Thomson had any direct involvement with the development of the Ostwald-Freundlich equation.

This article should be deleted and combined with the article on the Ostwald-Freundlich equation.

Cwkmail (talk) 03:47, 19 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I added the original form of the Kelvin equation, and inlined a link to it. I also clarified that the Ostwal-Freundlich equation is a rewrite of that. I also added a link to the page for the Gibbs-Thomson equation. Merging all three pages is above my comfort level, but I think things are enough better now to remove the "expert attention needed" tag. PianoDan (talk) 16:53, 27 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Condensation or evaporation following the P/P0 relationship

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Is this correct, as it is now listed in the article?

  • If , then liquid evaporates from the droplets
  • If , then the gas condenses on to the droplets increasing their volumes

Shouldn't evaporation be favored when vapor pressure is less than the saturation pressure? Shouldn't condensation be favored as vapor pressure increases and gets closer or above saturation pressure?

Check the capillary condensation article. http://eebweb.arizona.edu/faculty/saleska/SWES.410.510/LECTURES/Dominguez_Microphysics.pdf (page 4: condensation (and droplet's growth) occurs when p>ps, which seems logical since we need supersaturation of over 500% to start homogenous nucleation)

 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 164.41.6.144 (talk) 13:25, 25 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]