On the Limit of Superheat

A new method of observing the limit of superheat was devised, in which small drops of a sample liquid are heated as they rise up in the non-soluble heating liquid with a suitable temperature gradient upward. Using the method, the limit of superheat was determined, mainly for some saturated hydrocarbons and polymethylenes. The result was compared with Döring's theory of spontaneous bubble formation in super-heated liquids. The agreement between the theory and experiment was satisfactory, which seems to throw some light upon the problem of surface free energy on the nuclear bubble.