It is shown that instability in the van der Waals equation of state at the vapor-liquid boundary corresponds to an intermediate interphase equilibrium in which the total volume of the medium disintegrates into a set of cells. Each of them contains a liquid droplet of critical size ∝Rc and occupies a volume 1pt l₂^3 R₂^3 with a radius 1pt {R₂}, which consistently arises from Maxwell’s rule on the “tie” line of the equation of state in the van der Waals form. An experiment involving DLVO colloids confirms the predictions of the theory.
V. B. Shikin (Mon,) studied this question.