Uploaded February 2010 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
This video shows a chemical wave pattern in a thin layer of the 1,4-cyclohexanedione Belousov-Zhabotinsky (CHD-BZ) reaction. The waves are traveling color bands(blue on red). They are caused by the wildfire-like (isothermal) spreading of an autocatalytic reaction front. There is no fluid motion here; only reaction and diffusion. The CHD-BZ reaction is quite special and interesting as its chemical waves tend to show anomalous dispersion. In this specific example, a counterclockwise rotating spiral organizes its own wave island. Its tip is very close to the rim of the island and causes a clockwise drift. The tip trajectory is a logarithmic spiral.
This video shows a chemical wave pattern in a thin layer of the 1,4-cyclohexanedione Belousov-Zhabotinsky (CHD-BZ) reaction. The waves are traveling color bands(blue on red). They are caused by the wildfire-like (isothermal) spreading of an autocatalytic reaction front. There is no fluid motion here; only reaction and diffusion. The CHD-BZ reaction is quite special and interesting as its chemical waves tend to show anomalous dispersion. In this specific example, a counterclockwise rotating spiral organizes its own wave island. Its tip is very close to the rim of the island and causes a clockwise drift. The tip trajectory is a logarithmic spiral.
