Role of Small Clusters in Nucleation about Ions

Abstract

A consideration of the molecular aspects of ion induced nucleation shows that, in contrast to accepted theory, small clusters are a segment of the over‐all nucleation size spectrum. No direct relationship exists between ion solvation energy and the free energy barrier for nucleation. Instead, it is established that the properties of the small clusters govern the free energy functions in the neighborhood of the peak cluster concentration, and that these in turn affect the over‐all height of the free energy barrier for nucleation. The fact that ion‐molecule reactions are taking place during the course of the usual ion induced nucleation experiment is clearly demonstrated. Assumptions that nucleation generally occurs directly about ions of the carrier gas are disproven.