Nucleation in superheated liquids due to electric fields

Abstract

The phenomenon of induced boiling in liquids by external electric fields is reported. The experimental set-up devised for the study of the effect is a miniature bubble chamber. A relationship between the pressure and temperature of superheated liquid n-hexane and the critical voltage required at a thin, transparent SnO₂ film for inducing nucleation in it is obtained experimentally. A model is proposed to determine the electric field intensity at the edge of the film. In order to verify the proposition of intense electric field at the sharp edge of the film, three control experiments were performed. The minimum energy required for the formation of a vapour nucleus of critical size, according the kinetic theory of nucleation, is compared with the electrical energy contributed by the electric field over the same size. The agreement is fair.