Critical exponents at the turn of the century

J.M.h Levelt Sengers

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 1975, vol. 82, issue 3, 319-351

Abstract: The notion of a critical exponent was first used by Van der Waals in 1893 for describing the critical behavior of the surface tension. He also noticed in the early 1890's that experimental data on capillarity indicated a nonclassical value for the surface tension exponent. Verschaffelt found that this was due to the fact that the coexistence curve exponent beta was nonclassical. In 1900, he established precise nonclassical values for the exponents beta and delta. Even though from this time onwards the “cubic law” for fluid coexistence curves was accepted, the true implication of Verschaffelt's results, namely the failure of classical theory, was not appreciated. Some reasons for this lack of impact will be given.

Date: 1975
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:82:y:1975:i:3:p:319-351

DOI: 10.1016/0378-4371(76)90012-1

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