The Mechanism of Division of Small Liquid Systems Which Are the Seats of Physico-Chemical Reactions

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Abstract
In continuation of a previous investigation, the mechanism of division of small liquid droplets, which are the seats of physico‐chemical reactions, is being studied now not from thermodynamical, but from the kinetic point of view. Thermodynamical considerations give us conditions under which the whole drop is less stable, than its two halves. It does not say however anything about the degree of stability. The present investigation makes this next step, and shows under what conditions a drop becomes so unstable, that an infinitesimal deformation will lead to a division. The critical sizes calculated here are close to those calculated by thermodynamical method. The importance of ``release phenomena'' and ``valve action'' in the cases considered is pointed out.