Joseph Russo | 2026 I.S. Symposium
Name: Joseph Russo
Title: Curvature Dependent Spiral Frequencies of Belousov鈥揨habotinsky Waves
Major: Chemical Physics
惭颈苍辞谤:听Mathematics
Advisor: Niklas Manz
Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) solutions create waves when in 2D and can create spirals. In 1996, Zykov created a mathematical model to compare the frequency of the spiral鈥檚 rotation on curved surfaces vs planar, however, this assertion requires experimental confirmation. Using an acrylic mold with thirteen curvatures, the solution was placed into the mold, then light was used to create spirals. Two distinct methods to compare the values as a ratio were used. The first takes each spiral on a curvature and compares it to its nearest planar spiral, the second takes the average of all planar spirals and each curvature鈥檚 spirals, and uses these averages to create a ratio. In both cases, the values of averages are shown to be below the expected value; however, only a few do not have the expected value within error estimates. This evidence disagrees with current theoretical models.
Posted in Symposium 2026 on May 1, 2026.
