[en] Large-scale vapor explosion experiments have shown that intimate contact between hot and cold liquids, and a temperature upon contact that is greater than the spontaneous nucleation temperature of the system, are two necessary conditions for the onset of large scale vapor explosions. A model, based on spontaneous nucleation of the homogeneous type, has been proposed to describe the relevant processes and the resulting energetics for explosive boiling systems. The model considers that spontaneous nucleation cannot occur either during the relief time for constant volume heating or until the thermal boundary layer is sufficiently thick to support a vapor cavity of the critical size. After nucleation, bubble growth does not occur until an acoustic wave establishes a pressure gradient in the cold liquid. These considerations lead to the prediction that, for a given temperature, drops greater than a critical size will remain in film boiling due to coalescence of vapor nuclei and drops smaller than this value will wet and be captured by the hot liquid surface. These results are compared to small drop data for well-wetted systems and excellent agreement is obtained between the observed behavior and the model predictions. In conclusion: A model, based on spontaneous nucleation, has been proposed to describe vaporization potential and behavior upon contact in a liquid/liquid system. This behavior is determined by the size of the liquid mass, single-phase pressurization and acoustic relief, nucleation frequency due to random density fluctuations, the initiation of unstable growth and acoustic relief, and the development of the thermal boundary layer in the cold liquid. The proposed model predicts that the stability of a given size drop upon intimate contact with another liquid is extremely dependent upon the interface temperature. For low interface temperatures, large masses will be captured by the hot liquid and the resulting vaporization rates will be extremely low because of the small nucleation frequency. For higher values of interface temperature, large masses will remain in film boiling because of the well-developed thermal boundary layer and the large frequency of nucleation. These masses will remain in film boiling until the critical size is achieved whereupon they will be captured by the hot liquid. For these smaller drops, the vaporization rates of the system can be extremely high, and in fact, can produce vapor on an explosive time scale. This mechanism proposes that spontaneous nucleation is the mechanism for describing: (1) film boiling in a liquid/liquid system after intimate contact, (2) the limit of stability at a given temperature, (3) the trigger for an explosive interaction, and (4) the propagation of the initiating event in these systems. The model formulated in these considerations provides a good representation of the explosive character for well-wetted liquid systems including the onset of explosive events, and the magnitude of these events