1. Department of Mechanical, Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI, USA;2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, USA
Abstract:
We determine the regularized van der Waals contribution to pressure within a spherical cavity of vapor in a homogeneous, isotropic, infinite medium. The spherical Hamaker function, , has been defined, for the first time, in contrast to the conventional Hamaker function for planar surfaces, . For the materials under consideration, the pressure inside the cavity varies as , where a is the radius of the cavity. For radii below a transition radius, the surface energy (or surface tension) becomes size dependent and could have important implications for homogeneous nucleation of nanosized bubbles in liquids, as well as cavitation of bubbles.
, has been defined, for the first time, in contrast to the conventional Hamaker function for planar surfaces, 
. For the materials under consideration, the pressure inside the cavity varies as 
, where a is the radius of the cavity. For radii below a transition radius, the surface energy (or surface tension) becomes size dependent and could have important implications for homogeneous nucleation of nanosized bubbles in liquids, as well as cavitation of bubbles. 
