Temporal and Spatial Structures in Chemical Instabilities

Abstract

AbstractWe discuss the formation of temporal and spatial structures in chemical systems far from equilibrium by means of the occurrence of instabilities. Multiple stationary states, hysteresis and oscillations of chemical species are cases of temporal structures and some simple models and experiments serve as examples. Chemical reactions and diffusion combine to yield macroscopic spatial structures such as periodic precipitation phenomena (Liesegang rings), chemical waves, and cooperative effects in fields of localized instabilities. We conclude with the close analogies between certain instability phenomena and the kinetic phase transitions.