nucleation

1 8.2

Tiny bits join to form the first parts of a new crystal, like ice

noun
/ˌnjuːkliˈeɪʃən/

Specialized

: nucleación

The expansion leads to the nucleation of vapor cavities in the melt.
nucleation effect

And the ionized points in that space then form nucleation points for this liquid.

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Examples

This is random nucleation of bubbles, each bubble being at a different point in the landscape.

Robinson Erhardt
Studies by Sidney Coleman of Harvard University suggested that such a phase transition would occur by means of nucleation.

Academic text (1992)
What they do is create ice nucleation sites outside of their cell.
So they saw basically the nucleation of pure diamonds just just under pressure.
So you will have the first isolated nucleation sites from where bubbles will start rising.
And what that does is it creates a shock point and it creates a little nucleation site for water to start forming.
If you twist this metal plate, you create a nucleation seed and that will turn the liquid into a solid.

Sabine Hossenfelder
And the ionized points in that space then form nucleation points for this liquid.

MIT OpenCourseWare
Yet at present, the nucleation of interdisciplinary research seems to depend too much on serendipity.

Academic text (2007)
Bubbles form at nucleation sites, such as imperfections in glass.

How Crystalline

crystal

Specialized

61 3.6

crystallizing

Specialized

5.9

nucleation

Specialized

1 8.2

amorph

Specialized

9.9

Surface Forms

nucleation singular

nucleations plural

Morphology

nucleation = nucleate (semi-transparent) = nucle + ation

The word is a regular nominalization of 'nucleate', but its scientific sense is specialized enough that the meaning is only partly predictable for many learners.

Etymology

Nucleation comes from the Latin nucleus, which means 'kernel' or 'small core' and is the same root as nuclear. So, nucleation is like a tiny seed or kernel forming that starts a new crystal, drop, or structure.