Investigations of critical phenomena in liquids

The review is devoted to an analysis of the result of experimental research on equilibrium and kinetic properties of liquids near critical points, and to a comparison of the results with modern theoretical concepts. The work treated mainly is that performed during the last five to six years. An analysis is made of the specific requirements that must be satisfied in experiments under conditions of anomalous susceptibility of the system to external perturbations. The following main conclusion is drawn: At present there are no experimental groups for doubting that the scaling hypothesis is a true reflection of the most essential features of the critical phenomena. Near the critical points, the liquids exhibit a universal behavior, and the universality region turns out to be quite broad (up to temperatures and densities differing by 20–30% from the critical values).