I had a very mathy explanation of Spinodal Decomposition in my graduate work. I wonder if there's a more intuitive explanation than just "that's how the energy landscape works".
Hmmm, you might look up how dendrites form. They’re roughly analogous in how the thermodynamics are favorable to forming more complex structures, IIRC. But it’s easier/more intuit to see how dendrites form. Dendrite formation is also a huge problem in many fields, like electronics manufacturing (eg tin whiskers).
