Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 344 3 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Apply force balance to one hemisphere. The pressure force is , while the interfacial tension around its equator gives . The Young–Laplace equation therefore yieldsTo leading order in curvature, let the two bulk compositions be and . Their curvatures agree, , so equal chemical potentials require and hence a common shift .
Since , expansion about the flat coexistence compositions gives . Matching the capillary pressure proves the Gibbs--Thomson relation in these variables:The pressure jump balances interfacial forces; it does not permit unequal chemical potentials. A common shift in both compositions supplies a common interfacial chemical potential while their pressures differ. The expansion assumes large compared with the phi-four diffuse interface width.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 iii Paper 344 1 f Solution 2026-09-29
The interfacial tension is the excess free energy per unit interfacial area:The first integral from part e equates the first two terms inside the brackets to . Hence