Exploding Chemical Gardens: A Phase‐Change Clock Reaction

Abstract

Chemical gardens and clock reactions are two of the best‐known demonstration reactions in chemistry. Until now these have been separate categories. We have discovered that a chemical garden confined to two dimensions is a clock reaction involving a phase change, so that after a reproducible and controllable induction period it explodes.

Light-modulated colour transformation in highly intertwined vertically growing silver tungstate tubes

“…[17][18][19] Various experimental techniques have been documented so far for the formation of chemical garden architectures. [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29] Recent studies have investigated the influence of magnetic fields on the morphology regulation of chemical gardens. 30,31 Comprehending the impact of controlling parameters like light illumination or mechanical constriction on the growth kinetics of the chemical garden architectures could contribute to the generation of a predicted morphology and colour in the growing tubes.…”

Comparative Evaluation of Chemical Garden Growth Techniques

“…The leading theory behind the emergence of life on Earth raises a question: can these mineral-rich chimneys found in oceans be the first evidence of living organisms? The ongoing studies around this question have attracted the attention of scientists to the lab-grown chemical gardens, and significant progress has been made to reveal the full potential of these systems in the fields of chemistry, physics, fluid dynamics, biology, and geology. − As part of the increasing research activities, many potential application areas such as electrochemistry, material science, microfluidics, sensors, filtration, and catalysis are suggested for the use of chemical garden structures …”

Construction of a Clock Catalytic System: Highly Efficient and Self‐Indicating Synthesis of Benzoheterocycles at Ambient Temperature

“…Clock reaction is an interesting chemical system in which the concentration of one or more products build up abruptly after a well-defined induction time or so-called Landolt time, [1] which is typically accompanied by a characteristic event, such as sudden changes of color, [2] absorbance, [3] chemiluminescence, [4] and phase. [5] The nonlinear chemical kinetics of clock reactions arises from the fact that they essentially involve two parallel redox reactions going in opposite directions at different rates. As shown in Figure 1, for [A] 0 > [B] 0 , the clock species C emerges only after B (stoichiometric constraint) is consumed.…”