Lincoln University Cooperative Extension and Research Annual Report 2013

This is LUCER-MC Report #01-14 Published by Lincoln University Cooperative Extension and Research (LUCER) Media Center; 900 Chestnut Street, 301 Allen Hall; Jefferson City, MO 65101.

The View from LU Cooperative Extension, December 2014

Volume 2, Issue 1

Lincoln University Cooperative Extension and Research Annual Report 2014

This is LUCER-MC Report #01-2014

Extension of the thermodynamics of small systems to open metastable states: An example

By using a simplified model of small open liquid-like clusters with surface effects, in the gas phase, it is shown how the statistical thermodynamics of small systems can be extended to include metastable supersaturated gaseous states not too far from the gas–liquid equilibrium transition point. To accomplish this, one has to distinguish between mathematical divergence and physical convergence of the open-system partition function.