The kinetics of liquid-gas phase transitions of a Van der Waals substance with fluctuations taken into account

The isotherm of a Van der Waals substance, containing only stable points, is obtained on the basis of using the thermodynamic potential for nonequilibrium states and taking fluctuations into account. It is shown that in the vicinity of two-phase states this isotherm is close to the horizontal phase equilibrium line, defined by Maxwell's rule. The lifetimes of the metastable states of the Van der Waals substance, which depend on the intensity of the external fluctuations and the number of particles in the system, are estimated. (C) 1994 American Institute of Physics.