Surface tension, pattern formation, chemical oscillators, electrochemical reactions & general blobbyness. This is an image from artist Antony Hall and chemist Rosie Coates first experiment recreating the Belousov-Zhabotinskii reaction, which oscillates in both time and space, a so-called spatio-temporal oscillator. It is a complex system involving bromate, bromide, malonic acid, sulfuric acid, ferroin indicator, and oxygen. The oscillations in this reaction start with the formation in a red solution of small blue dots that expand in ever-widening concentric rings.
Hall and Coates also set up a series of live pattern-inducing experiments involving mercury, electricity and sound, including the extraordinary ‘mercury beating heart’ experiment, at a drop-in event last weekend at UCL, London, The Big Draw. For more images of this and other tabletop experiments > Antony Hall.