Wolfram Demonstrations Project

For a thermokinetic oscillator, the reaction scheme is

. The second reaction is exothermic with a reaction enthalpy

; it has a substantial activation energy

. The concentration of component

is constant, the temperature of the surroundings is

, the density and specific heat of the reaction mixture are

and

, the area for heat transfer is

, the volume of the system is

, and

. The relevant rate equations are solved and plotted for

and

, the latter scaled up by 1000 for convenience.

The reaction produces heat, accelerating the reaction and reducing the concentration of

. As you vary the parameters, the interplay of these opposing tendencies can produce oscillations and bifurcation behavior.

References

[1] P. Gray and S. K. Scott, Chapter 4, Chemical Oscillations and Instabilities, New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.

[2] D. A. Frank-Kamenetskii and I. E. Salnikov. Zhur. Fiz. Khim., 17, 1943 p. 79.

[3] xmds.org. thermkin.xmds. (Dec 28 2012)

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Thermokinetic Oscillator