COEXISTENCE PHENOMENA IN THE CRITICAL REGION: IV. TIME-DEPENDENT BEHAVIOR IN VERTICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE CRITICAL OPALESCENCE IN ETHYLENE AND XENON

Abstract

The variation with height of the transmittance in the critical region at various heights in long columns of xenon and ethylene continued to change for several hours after stirring. This change with time is attributed to gravitational settling of large molecular clusters. Other experiments also indicate that a region in which extensive molecular clustering occurs is necessary for an adequate description of phase transitions in the critical region.