Abstract
While the atomistic nature of ice crystals was said to be responsible for their shape and symmetry by Kepler [1] as early as 1611, and the necessity of considerable undercooling to induce crystallization of a liquid (due to the energetic barrier of nucleation) was noticed by Fahrenheit in 1724 [2], the problems of nucleation and crystal growth were first given a solid theoretical basis with the publication of J. W. Gibbs’ paper “On the equilibrium of heterogeneous substances” in 1877 [3].
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© 2001 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Mutaftschiev, B. (2001). Introduction. In: The Atomistic Nature of Crystal Growth. Springer Series in Materials Science, vol 43. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-04591-6_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-04591-6_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
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