The Demonstration presents the chlorite-iodide-malonic acid (CIMA) reaction, which gives rise to temporal oscillations.
The reaction scheme is:
,
where and .
The dimensionless governing equations are:
,
.
Oscillating patterns are observed for . In fact, oscillations are obtained in snapshot 1 for and . The phase-plane diagram shows a limit cycle.
On the other hand, a stable steady state is found for and (snapshot 3). Phase-plane analysis shows a stable node. The locations of the selected parameter values are plotted in the stability diagram that demarcates the parameter space between limit cycles (periodic oscillations) and damped oscillations.
[1] I. R. Epstein and J. A. Pojman, An Introduction to Nonlinear Chemical Dynamics: Oscillations, Waves, Patterns, and Chaos, New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
[2] G. Nicolis, Dynamique chimique: thermodynamique, cinétique et mécanique statistique, Paris: Dunod, 2005.