ABSTRACT
Interfaces between coexisting phases are the simplest example of local non-uniformities in a system. They inevitably arise within the framework of the phase approximation of describing the properties of non-uniform systems by Gibbs as heterogeneous systems, when the contributions from the phase boundaries can not be neglected in thermodynamic functions. Our task is to compare the hypotheses of the thermodynamic approach with the results obtained on the basis of the molecular theory, using the same hypotheses. Below, the thermodynamic introduction to the problem is limited to reminding the basic assumptions about the concepts of the dividing surface. Determination of the surface of tension and methods for determining the surface tension based on thermodynamic and hydrostatic approaches in metastable spherical drops, as well as other issues of comparing the continuum description of surface tension with the molecular discrete description in the LGM (lattice gas model), are discussed in Appendix 1 and Chapter 7.
