PNNL

Abstract

The nucleation rate is governed by the corresponding evaporation and condensation rate constants for the multi-step kinetics for populations of individual clusters. In our recent publications on Dynamical Nucleation Theory (DNT) a formalism was presented which allows the evaporation and condensation rate constants to be determined directly. Given these rate constants the transient and steady state behavior of the nucleation rate can be investigated by solving the pseudo-first order kinetic equations. The use of variational transition state theory to estimate the monomer evaporation rate constant provides a unique and physically consistent value for the cluster constraining volume. Application of DNT to small polarizable water clusters and future work on multi-component systems will be discussed.