ON THE TENSION OF CURVED METAL-SURFACE

The leading curvature correction delta to the surface tension of a spherical interface is defined by gamma = gamma(0) (1 + deltaC), where C is the surface curvature. In the framework of the density-functional-theory the values of delta are calculated for cesium and sodium. Semi-empirical estimations of delta are fulfilled for some simple, noble, transition metals and rare gas solids, using evaporation heats per atom and vacancy-formation energies. Numerical results indicate that delta > 0 is in a contradiction with measurements of gamma for gold and lead droplets. An attempt of removal of this contradiction is carried out by re-definition of the dividing surface.