TEMPERATURE-DEPENDENCE OF CURVATURE VELOCITY RELATIONSHIP IN AN EXCITABLE BELOUSOV-ZHABOTINSKII REACTION

For the understanding of the geometric shape and the dynamic behavior of chemical waves traveling through an excitable medium, two relationships have to be considered: the dispersion relation in periodic wave trains, and the ''eikonal'' equation, which expresses a proportionality between speed and curvature of chemical waves. In continuation of previous works, where the dependence of the speed on the shape of waves was investigated for positively and negatively curved wave fronts in the Belousov-Zhabotinskii (BZ) reaction, we report for the same reaction measurements of the curvature-velocity relation for negatively curved wave fronts, obtained at different temperatures ranging from 279 to 300.7 K (6-27.7-degrees-C). In this range, the critical radius for wave initiation varies from 28.2 to 16.4-mu-m. The activation energy of wave propagation is calculated to be E(V) = 34.9 +/- 1.2 kJ/M, and that of the diffusion of the autocatalytic species, E(D) = 13.4 +/- 1.0 kJ/M.