Pattern Recognition of Chemical Waves: Finding the Activation Energy of the Autocatalytic Step in the Belousov-Zhabotinsky Reaction

The Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction is an example of a homogeneous, nonequilibrium reaction used commonly as a model for the study of biological structure and morphogenesis. We report the experimental effects of temperature on spontaneously nucleated trigger waves in a quasi-two-dimensional BZ reaction-diffusion system, conducted isothermally at temperatures between 9.9 and 43.3 degrees C. Novel application of filter-coupled circle finding and localized pattern analysis is shown to allow the highly accurate extraction of average radial wave velocity and nucleation period. Using this, it is possible to verify a strong Arrhenius dependence of average wave velocity with temperature, which is used to find the effective activation energy of the reaction in accordance with predictions elaborated from the widely used Oregonator model of the BZ reaction. On the basis of our experimental results and existing theoretical models, the value for activation energy of the important self-catalyzed step in the Oregonator model is determined to be 86.58 +/- 4.86 kJ mol(-)(1), within range of previous theoretical prediction.