Complex Dynamics in Experiments on a Chemical Reaction

Abstract

McCormick described chemical experiments in which a number of chemicals are introduced into a stirred-flow reactor, and the concentration of one of the products emerging is measured as a function of time. Very beautiful period-doubling as well as chaotic phenomena are observed (including a specific attractor now known as the “Texas attractor”), and the phenomenon of intermittency. He also described some measurements of a chemical wave in a dish reactor, and showed pictures of the wave propagating in a gel. He went into considerable detail discussing experimental difficulties (e.g. impurities in his reactants), and also presented theoretical analyses of the experimental results.