Size‐dependent crystal growth—A manifestation of growth rate dispersion in the potassium alum‐water system

Growth of potassium alum crystals was characterized by the advance rates of crystals on the leading edge of population distributions and by the advance rates of the modes of these distributions. Growth rates of crystals on the leading edge appeared to follow size‐dependent kinetics, but the observed spread of the distribution about the average size was much greater than would be expected from size‐dependent growth alone. The spread of the distribution was correlated with the extent of growth determined from the net advance of the average crystal size. These quantitative and qualitative results show that what has often been referred to as size‐dependent growth is in fact a manifestation of growth rate dispersion.