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What is the most amazing looking chemical reaction?

Asked by ETpro (34605points) February 13th, 2011

To get this started, let me point you to the rather startling chemical clock, the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction. Lest you think this is a fake, and not just a specific set of chemicals combined then excited past equilibrium, see the explanation of the BZ reaction here.

And yes, it is absolutely amazing enough to deserve a name that complex. But after watching the video of it, you will see thumbnails to a ton of additional examples of chemical reactions that exhibit self organization out of apparent chaos. Or you can search YouTube for things like chemical clocks, Briggs-Rauscher Oscillating Reactions, or Google non-equilibrium thermodynamic chemical reactions.

Which is the absolute coolest. Please post a link to your favorite, video of such a reaction and feel free to comment or contribute about what these phenomena represent to you.

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