Significant structure theory applied to phase separation.

The significant structure theory of liquids has been applied to the partially miscible system of the O(3)-O(2) mixture, which exhibits partial miscibility in the temperature range from -195.5 degrees C to -179.9 degrees C. The thermodynamic condition for phase separation is given by the following inequality: [Formula: see text] A partition function for the binary liquid mixture is developed using significant liquid structure theory. Here X(i) is the mole fraction of either of the two components. We obtain the coexistence curve of the O(3)-O(2) system by varying the mole fractions of the components to find the temperature at which the two liquids separate. The agreement between theory and experiment is satisfactory.