Statistico-probabilistic approach to taking account of the vapor depletion in the kinetics of homogeneous nucleation: A free-molecular regime of droplet growth

A statistico-probabilistic approach was proposed to solve the problem of taking account of the vapor phase depletion during nucleation. The radius of the volume of influence of the growing droplet was established with the help of the probability of nonformation of a new droplet within a spherical volume of given radius centered at the center of the growing droplet. The mean distance between two neighboring droplets and the average time lag for the formation of the nearest droplet were also determined. The results were compared with the predictions of classical nucleation theory which assumes the density uniformity of a metastable phase.