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Updated: Aug 12, 2026

An Analog Macroscopic Technique for Studying Molecular Hydrodynamic Processes in Dense Gases and Liquids
Published on: December 4, 2017
Avalanche behavior in the dynamics of chemical reactions
J R Claycomb1, K E Bassler, J H Miller
1Department of Physics, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204 and Texas Center for Superconductivity, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204.
Abstract:
Sudden bursts of chemical activity, displaying avalanche-like behavior, have been observed in reactions between metals and liquid electrolytes by measuring the time-dependent chemomagnetic fields with a high-T(c) SQUID. The observed intermittent chemomagnetic field pulses exhibit power-law behavior in the distributions of peak sizes, noise spectra, and return-time distributions. Such power-law behavior provides evidence for self-organized criticality occurring in the form of "chemical avalanches" over a wide range of size and time scales.
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