The Chlorite Oscillator

Other oscillating chemical systems have been discovered. Here is one that used malonic acid, but relies on the oxidation-reduction reactions of chlorite ions.
Mix the following solutions along with a starch indicator in a 2mm layer in a petri dish. Run the reaction at a temperature of 5C. A spatial wave pattern will appear.

  1. [CH2(COOH)2] = 0.0033M
  2. [NaI] = 0.09M
  3. [NaClO2] = 0.10M
  4. [H2SO4] = 0.0056M
G. N.icolis & F Baras, Chemical Instabilities, Reidel Pub. Co., Boston, 1984.

The Chlorite-Thiosulfate Oscillator

A variation of the chlorite oscillator uses thiosulfate. At a temperature of 25C mix initial solutions:
  1. [ClO2^-] = 0.0005M
  2. [S2O3^2-] = 0.0003M
  3. pH = 4

Chaos in the Chlorite-Thiosulfate Oscillator

The chemical oscillators can be observed to pass from periodic and quasi-periodic oscillations into regions of chaos. The following concentration levels have been observed to cause chaos in the chlorite-thiosulfate oscillator.
    [ClO2^-] = 0.00233M
    [S2O3^2-] = 0.00107M
    pH = 4
Orban & Epstein, J. Phys. Chem. 86, 3902(1982)