| Summary: | Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University === Part A: An investigation of the role of AgI as a nucleus for the transition of supercooled water to ice has been carried out. It has been definitely established that AgI particles are able to serve as nuclei for the transition in the complete absence of supercooled liquid water. The question of the detailed mechanism of the process - whether it is a vapor to liquid transition followed by freezing of the liquid, or, whether it is a direct vapor to solid transformation, could not be answered. It appears, however, from the data obtained, that the latter view is the more reasonable one.
Part B: An investigation of disturbances of inner shell electrons in homonuclear, diatomic mmlecules has been carried out using the Fermi-Thomas statistical method. The depth of penetration of the perturbance, defined as the point beyond which the distribution of electrons is no longer that of the isolated atom but is some new, asymmetric distribution,
was found to reach only to the shell beneath the valence shell.
A plot of the "number of perturbed electrons" versus atomic number is periodic, with a greater perturbance for the halogens than for the corresponding alkalis. For either family, the points lie on a straight line, and, from this, the Rb2 interatomic distance, which was unavailable at the time, was calculated. The value found, R = 4.28 A, compares favorably with the "nearest neighbor in metal" distance, R = 4.32 A.
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