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  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 1999  > September  >
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JCE Online: Mathcad in the Chemistry Curriculum
Studying Nonlinear Dynamics with Numerical Experiments: Dynamics.mcd
John A. Pojman
University of Southern Mississippi, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Hattiesburg, MS 39406-5043

Cover
September 1999
Vol. 76 No. 9
p. 1310

Full Text

Nonlinear chemical dynamics is the study of oscillations, waves, fronts, patterns, and chaos in chemical systems away from equilibrium. An important tool in this field is the use of numerical simulations. We introduce numerical integration for simple chemical rate expressions and examine the limitations to standard methods, illustrating the erroneous results that can be obtained for simple coupled differential equations using two algorithms in Mathcad. We demonstrate phase plane analysis in a simple driven pendulum and the time delay method for reconstructing the systems attractor. We apply the technique to several important systems, including the Lotka­Volterra model, the Brusselator, and the Oregonator. This document contains an extensive bibliography for oscillating reactions.

Figure 2. An attractor with a fixed point from Dynamics.mcd

More Information
*  Citation
Pojman, John A. J. Chem. Educ. 1999 76 1310.
*  Keywords
Kinetics; Physical Chemistry; Theoretical Chemistry; Computer Assisted Instruction
*  History
Created:
Last Updated:
July 30, 1999
June 23, 2005
  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 1999  > September


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