Effect of a dissolved gas on the homogeneous nucleation pressure of a liquid

An isothermal decompression technique has been used to measure the pressure at which homogeneous nucleation of bubbles occurs in solutions of nitrogen in ethyl ether. Droplets of the ethyl ether–nitrogen solution were suspended in a host liquid by flowing the host liquid at a rate which just countered the buoyancy of the droplets. The system was then decompressed until nucleation occurred. The presence of the dissolved nitrogen in the ethyl ether was observed to raise the pressure at which nucleation occurred. The extent of the increase corresponds closely with that which has been previously predicted.