PROFILES OF CHEMICAL WAVES IN THE FERROIN-CATALYZED BELOUSOV-ZHABOTINSKII REACTION

We report measurements and numerical calculations of profiles of chemical waves in the ferroin-catalyzed Belousov-Zhabotinskii (BZ) reaction at various concentrations of reactants and study waves travelling in an excitatory as well as an oscillatory medium. The fronts of the waves in the excitatory medium are generally broader and somewhat bent, while the fronts of waves in the oscillatory mediums are narrower and straighter. In both cases, the measured concentration of ferriin, which defines the structure of the wave increases with increasing initial concentration of sulfuric acid and sodium bromate and decreases with increasing initial concentration of malonic acid. We model the waves by modifying the existing extended Oregonator model, and the concentrations of ferriin of the numerically calculated wave profiles agree better with measurements than those of previous models.