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Chemical waves on spherical surfaces

Nature volume 339, pages 609–611 (1989)Cite this article

Abstract

THE concentric-circular and spiral patterns exhibited by the Belousov–Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction in thin films of solution are representative of spatiotemporal behaviour in a two-dimensional, planar excitable medium1–6. Here we report BZ chemical waves propagating on the two-dimensional surface of a sphere. A wave on the surface of a single cation-exchange bead, loaded with ferroin and bathed in BZ reaction mixture containing no catalyst, develops to form a rotating spiral. Unlike spiral waves in thin films of solution, which typically wind out to connect with a twin rotating in the opposite direction, these waves rotate from pole to pole in a single direction. The spiral winds outward from a meandering source at one pole, crosses the equator, and undergoes self-annihilation as it winds into itself at the other pole. This behaviour, which is not possible in a two-dimensional planar configuration, arises from qualitative (negative to positive) and quantitative changes in wavefront curvature as the wave traverses the spherical surface. These observations of a single spiral wave contrast with theoretical predictions7,8 of counter-rotating spirals in this geometry.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, 26506-6045, USA

    Jerzy Maselko & Kenneth Showalter

  2. Institute of Inorganic Chemistry and Metallurgy of Rare Elements, Technical University, Wroclaw, Poland

    Jerzy Maselko

Authors
  1. Jerzy Maselko
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  2. Kenneth Showalter
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Maselko, J., Showalter, K. Chemical waves on spherical surfaces. Nature 339, 609–611 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1038/339609a0

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