Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 9, 2026

Chemical Gardens as Flow-through Reactors Simulating Natural Hydrothermal Systems
Published on: November 18, 2015
Amplification of noise in a cascade chemical reaction
1Abteilung Physikalische Chemie, Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Faradayweg 4-6, 14195 Berlin (Dahlem), Germany. shibata@hiroshima-u.ac.jp
Abstract:
Networks of chemical reactions have been given much attention recently. However, dynamical aspects of such networks remain to be elucidated. In this paper, we study a cascade chemical reaction, consisting of a series of downstream-coupled Brusselators. Along the cascade of reaction, small fluctuations naturally existing in the concentration of chemical species are amplified. Such amplification of small noise leads to the formation of chemical oscillations in the downstream chemical species. The amplification rate of small noise in the concentration along the cascade is studied and the method to calculate the amplification rate analytically is developed. It is also shown that the nonlinear evolution of the chemical oscillation in the downstream reaction strongly depends on the frequency of the initial inlet chemical concentration.
Related Concept Videos
Intracellular Signaling Cascades
Reaction Mechanisms
For instance, the decomposition of ozone appears to follow a mechanism with two steps:
Rate-Determining Steps
In a multistep reaction mechanism, one of the elementary steps progresses significantly slower than the others. This slowest step is called the rate-limiting step (or rate-determining step). A reaction cannot proceed faster than its slowest step, and hence, the rate-determining step limits the overall reaction rate.
The concept of rate-determining step can be understood from the analogy of a 4-lane freeway with a short-stretch of traffic-bottleneck caused due to...
Multi-Step Reactions
Cascaded Op Amps
In a cascaded system, each op-amp is referred to as a stage. The output of one stage drives the input of the subsequent stage. As the input signal passes through...
Consecutive Reactions

