On the theory of fog

Abstract

It is pointed out that in first-order phase transitions nucleation stops when the supersaturation decreases by a small amount. A simple quantitative description of the next stage of the kinetics of the transition — the growth stage — is proposed. This stage lasts much longer than the nucleation stage, and during practically the entire duration of this stage all nuclei have virtually the same size and the number of nuclei is constant, and the main drop in supersaturation occurs here.