The empirical observation that crystn. from a soln. occurs in steps in such a way that often thermodynamically unstable phases occur first, followed by the thermodynamically stable phase (Ostwald step rule), still has no theor. foundation. Ostwald's step rule is demonstrated to be related to irreversible thermodn. Ostwald's step rule minimizes entropy prodn
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Rutger A. van Santen (1984) studied this question.
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