A unified kinetic approach to binary nucleation

Two different methods to calculate the steady-state nucleation rate in hete romolecular systems proposed by Stauffer (1976) and Langer (1969) are analy zed. Their mathematical equivalence is explicitly demonstrated, thereby obt aining a generic expression for the rate of binary nucleation. Its numerica l evaluation does not entail rotation of the coordinate system at the saddl e point, but it only requires data in the natural coordinate system of numb er fluctuations, namely molecular impingement rates, the droplet free energ y and its second order derivatives at the saddle point, and the total densi ty of condensible vapors. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-96 06(99)51041-6].