Metastable states

✍ Scribed by J.S. Langer

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1974
• Weight: 771 KB
• Volume: 73
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0031-8914
• DOI: 10.1016/0031-8914(74)90226-2

✦ Synopsis

A kinetic model of phase separation in binary liquid or solid solutions is used as the basis for a general discussion of the statistical theory of metastability. Attention is focussed on two questions: What is the significance of a free energy for a metastable state? What is the distinction between metastability and instability? Theories of both the nucleation and spinodal mechanisms are described, and some new results are presented. It is concluded that the transition between these two mechanisms is intrinsically smooth, i.e. that no sharp spinodal line exists.