Professor Kenneth Showalter has been awarded a grant from the Experimental Physical Chemistry Program for continued studies concerning the oscillatory behavior of certain chemical reactions in solution and in solution-solid state media. These studies of chemical waves hold great promise for developing a better understanding of spatial and time behavior in chemical systems. A detailed characterization of the oscillatory iodate-sulfite-ferrocyanide reaction will be carried out. Classical chemical kinetics studies of the component reactions along with a systematic investigation of the dynamical behavior will be accomplished. Chemical wave behavior in a variety of different reactions and configurations will be investigated. One particularly innovative component of this study is the investigation of spiral waves on the spherical surface of catalyst beads.
