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Updated: Feb 28, 2026

Chemical Gardens as Flow-through Reactors Simulating Natural Hydrothermal Systems
Published on: November 18, 2015
Camphor-Engine-Driven Micro-Boat Guides Evolution of Chemical Gardens
Mark Frenkel1,2, Victor Multanen2, Roman Grynyov1
1Physics Department, Ariel University, Natural Sciences Faculty, P.O.B. 3, 407000, Ariel, Israel.
Abstract:
A micro-boat self-propelled by a camphor engine, carrying seed crystals of FeCl3, promoted the evolution of chemical gardens when placed on the surface of aqueous solutions of potassium hexacyanoferrate. Inverse chemical gardens (growing from the top downward) were observed. The growth of the "inverse" chemical gardens was slowed down with an increase in the concentration of the potassium hexacyanoferrate. Heliciform precipitates were formed under the self-propulsion of the micro-boat. A phenomenological model, satisfactorily describing the self-locomotion of the camphor-driven micro-boat, is introduced and checked.
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