| Budget Amount *help |
¥1,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,900,000)
Fiscal Year 1988: ¥500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000)
Fiscal Year 1987: ¥1,400,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000)
|
|---|
| Research Abstract |
Under conditions far from equilibrium, spontaneous oscillations can be generated of "self-organization" from the experiment of the B-Z reaction. in this project we studied a curious oscillatory phenomenon in quite a simple system, a salt-water oscillator. We believe that this system is profitable for students of biology, chemistry and physics in understanding the major concepts of non-linear dynamics in a far-from-equilibrium condition.
In 1970, Martin, a geophysist, found a curious phenomenon rhythmic oscillations of water flow are generated when a vertically oriented hypodermic syringe, with the plunger removed, is filled with salt-water and partially submerged in a beaker of pure-water. The oscillations appear as a downward jet of salt-water, followed by an upward jet of pure-water, and so on for many cycles.
Here, We would like only to mention the presence of an "auto-catalytic" process in the oscillator. let us consider the moment when salt-water fills the pore and thus the heavy salt-water tends to go downward from the pore. The salt-water, just below the pore, affects the downward buoyant force, due to the difference between its density and that of the surrounding pure-water. From the condition of continuity of the fluid, the salt-water within the pore is also pulled downward from the salt water below the pore. this situation corresponds to the "auto-catalytic" process. A similar situation also holds for the upward flow of the pure-water.
|
