Clusters—The Seeds of Droplets and Snowflakes

摘要

The clusters play a significant role in formation of Universe, in the condensation of matter and meteorological phenomena, in processes of life, and in our technologies. Therefore, they should be studied better. Modern electronic thermophysical databases are very rich sources of knowledge about cluster properties. This research is directed towards development and perfection of methods to extract properties of clusters from precise thermophysical data. The parallel between clusters, droplets and snowflakes helps in this investigation. The paper shows the achievements and discoveries on this way. The soft structural transition in cluster fractions is opposed to the abrupt phase transition at a condensation of matter.