Multistate Kinetics in Nonsteady-State Nucleation: A Numerical Solution

We have numerically calculated the multistate kinetics for the nonsteady-state nucleation of a few cases of supersaturated water vapor. The calculations include: (a) the complete time dependence of cluster concentrations for cluster sizes 11–110 molecules, and (b) the “currents” which describe the net rate of passage of clusters for a given nearest-neighbor transition. From these exact solutions, we obtain, for a particular case: (a) the delay period (or time) as a function of cluster size; (b) the time lag as a function of cluster size; (c) the steady-state concentrations for the various cluster sizes; (d) the steady-state current; and (e) in general, an over-all picture of how the system relaxes into steady state. Where applicable, we will compare our results with previous work.