Empirical function for homogeneous water nucleation rates

Very recently, Wolk and Strey [J. Phys. Chem. B 105, 11683 (2001)] presented empirical temperature correction functions for calculating homogeneous nucleation rates J of H2O and D2O (1<J/cm(-3) s(-1)<10(20)) from classical nucleation theory over an extended range of temperature T (200<T/K<310) and supersaturations S (5<S<200). Here, we critically test the correction functions to the Becker-Doring nucleation rate equation J(BD) against an extensive set of experimental data, and find that the equations distinctly improve the agreement between theory and experiment for very little extra work. The success of the corrected nucleation rate functions is surprising, given that they were developed based on experimental nucleation rates measured in a nucleation pulse chamber over a limited nucleation rate range 10(5)<J/cm(-3) s(-1)<10(10), supersaturation range 6<S<22, and temperature range 220<T/K<260. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.