The
validity of the classical nucleation theory (CNT), the most
important tool to describe and predict nucleation kinetics in supercooled
liquids, has been at stake for almost a century. Here, we carried
out comprehensive molecular dynamics simulations of the nucleation
kinetics of a fast quenched supercooled germanium using the Stillinger–Weber
potential at six temperatures, covering a supercooling range of T/T
m = 0.70–0.86, where T
m is the equilibrium melting temperature. We
used the seeding method to determine the number of particles in the
critical crystal nuclei at each supercooling, which yielded n
* = 150–1300 atoms. The transport coefficient
at the liquid/nucleus interface and the melting point were also obtained
from the simulations. Using the parameters resulting directly from
the simulations, the CNT embraces the experimental nucleation rates, J(T), with the following fitted (average)
values of the nucleus/liquid interfacial free energy: γ = 0.244
and 0.201 J/m2, for the experimental and calculated values
of thermodynamic driving force, Δμ(T),
respectively, which are close to the value obtained from n
*(T). Without using any fit parameter,
the calculated nucleation rates for the experimental and calculated
values of Δμ(T) embrace the experimental J(T) curve. Therefore, this finding favors
the validity of the CNT.