RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF CONVECTION AND DIFFUSION IN BINARY-LIQUID SYSTEMS SUBJECT TO SMALL HORIZONTAL TEMPERATURE-GRADIENTS

By comparing the convection and diffusion transport times of a binary liquid mixture contained in a rectangular box subjected to a small hor izontal temperature gradient we roughly estimate the size of an accide ntal temperature gradient that can be allowed without keeping an exper iment away from effective equilibrium. This approximate criterion is t hen tested against an experiment that is independently known to have e quilibrated [G. Maisano, P. Migliardo, and F. Wanderligh, J. Phys. A 9 , 2149 (1976)], and we find that the experiment was close to our predi cted borderline.