New phenomenological approach to gas-liquid nucleation based on the scaling properties of the critical nucleus

The scaling properties of the critical nucleus, as proposed recently by McGraw and Laaksonen, are analyzed in the context of density functional results for simple Lennard-Jones systems. A simple phenomenological approach with no adjustable parameters is introduced to test the validity of these scaling relations in describing the nucleation behavior of nonpolar and weakly polar vapors. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.