Comments on the article entitled “Incompatibility of the Shuttleworth equation with Hermann’s mathematical structure of thermodynamics” by D.J. Bottomley, Lasse Makkonen and Kari Kolari [Surf. Sci. 603 (2009) 97]

In the Shuttleworth’s equation g ij = γ δ ij + d γ / d ε ij , γ is the surface energy and g ij is the surface stress with respect to the corresponding bulk quantity. At equilibrium and T = 0 K, the bulk energy is the cohesive energy and the bulk stress is zero ( p = 0 ). = j ( ε ii is hydrostatic) and for a flat surface, we show that the equilibrium surface stress g ii corresponds to a surface pressure located mainly at the first monolayer and that the presence of the surface energy γ in the Shuttleworth’s equation results from the matter conservation rule. Indeed, γ is an energy calculated per constant unit area while the atomic surface varies with the deformation as ( 1 + ε ii ). The equilibrium surface stress g ii present at the surface is parallel to the surface. When g ii is positive, this signifies that the surface atoms tend to contract together in the direction i even if the bulk pressure p is zero.