| EPSRC Reference: |
GR/L78499/01 |
| Title: |
NUCLEATION THEOREMS AND THE RATE OF FORMATION OF NEW PHASES |
| Principal Investigator: |
Ford, Professor IJ |
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| Department: |
Physics and Astronomy |
| Organisation: |
UCL |
| Scheme: |
Standard Research (Pre-FEC) |
| Starts: |
19 January 1998 |
Ends: |
18 April 1999 |
Value (£): |
50,848
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| No relevance to Underpinning Sectors |
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Summary on Grant Application Form |
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The project will develop a novel route for obtaining theoretical predictions of the nucleation rate of droplets of a new phase from an initial metastable phase. Use will be made of the recently discovered nucleation theorems, one of which was derived by the proposed Principal Investigator. Simulations of molecular cluster evolution in a grand canonical ensemble will allow the size and properties of the critical cluster to be calculated. This is the size which is equally likely to grow or decay. The theorems will then yield the sensitivity of the nucleation rate to changes in the parameter controlling the transition, particularly temperature. This calculational route does not require the evaluation of a free energy, which is the traditional method for calculating nucleation rates, but which is difficult and prone to error. In contrast, only the internal energy and size of the cluster is needed in the new procedure. The method will be tested using simple statistical systems such as the Ising model, and then using more realistic Lennard-Jones condensates. The use of the theorems in more complex systems will also be considered, with theoretical development as necessary.
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Key Findings |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Potential use in non-academic contexts |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Impacts |
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| Description |
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk |
| Summary |
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| Date Materialised |
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Sectors submitted by the Researcher |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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