Metastability of phase transitions and the tensile strength of liquids

It is shown that the apparently different ‘nucleation’ and ‘equilibrium’ approaches to the theoretical study of the tensile strength of a liquid can be synthesized. The combined theory can be applied to a supercooled vapour or to a liquid under tension or superheated. Either approach leads to the conclusion that the predicted tensile strength is extremely insensitive to the ‘time of doing an experiment’, provided that we do not make this time actually zero or infinite. Available experimental evidence on the tensile strength of liquids, including some very recent improvements in the Berthelot tube method, is surveyed and it is concluded that a very sub­stantial measure of agreement between theory and experiment now exists.