Ourobjectiveisabetterunderstandingoftheroleofphysicalpropertiesofrealfluidsinthethermodynamicsofcavitationinimpurewater.Anextensiontotheclassicalhomogenousnucleationtheorysuitableformixturesispresentedinattempttoaddressthediscrepancybetweenthetheoreticalpredictionsandpracticalobservationsofcavitationratesinwateratnormaltemperatures.Theextensiontakesintoaccoutthenon-equilibrium(dissipative)effectsinvolvedinnucleiformationthroughasubstancedependentcorrectioncoefficienttobedeterminedexperimentally.Thetheoryofthermodynamicfluctuationsisappliedtoderivetheworkofformationofabubblenucleus.Thevalueofthecorrectioncoefficientisestimatedusingpreliminaryexperimentaldatafromaconvergent-pergentnozzle.Anapplicationoftheresultstothenumericalpredictionofthecavitationzonesinaradial-flowwaterpumpisshown.
