Spiral precipitation patterns in confined chemical gardens.

ABSTRACT: Chemical gardens are mineral aggregates that grow in three dimensions with plant-like forms and share properties with self-assembled structures like nanoscale tubes, brinicles, or chimneys at hydrothermal vents. The analysis of their shapes remains a challenge, as their growth is influenced by osmosis, buoyancy, and reaction-diffusion processes. Here we show that chemical gardens grown by injection of one reactant into the other in confined conditions feature a wealth of new patterns including spirals, flowers, and filaments. The confinement decreases the influence of buoyancy, reduces the spatial degrees of freedom, and allows analysis of the patterns by tools classically used to analyze 2D patterns. Injection moreover allows the study in controlled conditions of the effects of variable c

SUBMITTER: Haudin F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4267335 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature