Derivation of the Matalon-Packter law for Liesegang patterns

Theoretical models of the Liesegang phenomena are studied and simple expressions for the spacing coefficients characterizing the patterns are derived. The emphasis is on displaying the explicit dependences on the concentrations of the inner and the outer electrolytes. Competing theories (ion-product supersaturation, nucleation and droplet growth, induced sol-coagulation) are treated with the aim of finding the distinguishing features of the theories. The predictions are compared with experiments and the results suggest that the induced sol-coagulation theory is the best candidate for describing the experimental observations embodied in the Matalon-Packter law. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics, [S0021-9606(98)50145-6].