SUPERSATURATION LIMIT FOR HOMOGENEOUS NUCLEATION OF OXYGEN BUBBLES INWATER AT ELEVATED PRESSURE - SUPERHENRY-LAW

At 25 degrees C and atmospheric pressure, the iodide-catalyzed decompo sition of aqueous hydrogen peroxide in an undisturbed solution results in a maximum dissolved oxygen concentration of 0.12 M, or about 100 t imes the equilibrium solubility. At this concentration loss of gas occ urs by homogeneous nucleation of bubbles. The supersaturation is readi ly destroyed by agitation or by sonication. As the external pressure i s increased, the maximum attainable oxygen concentration increases lin early, reaching 0.18 M at 50 atm. In a plot of-dissolved gas concentra tion versus external pressure, the supersaturation line is parallel to the Henry's law (saturation) line. The maximum supersaturation concen tration at elevated pressure is independent of the nature of the press urizing gas. While the pressure dependence of the supersaturation limi t caa be understood in terms of existing nucleation theory, the theory fails in attempts to calculate that limit quantitatively.