Thermal effects in the density fingering of the chlorite-tetrathionate reaction

The effect of temperature on the convective instability arising in the acid-catalyzed reaction of chlorite and tetrathionate ions is invesfigated experimentally. Density fingering is analyzed quantitatively by determining dispersion curves and front amplitudes describing the initial and the long time evolution of the pattern formation. The stabilization of low wave number modes solely from thermal effects has been illustrated. We have also presented that the emergence of a single stable cell is due to thermal stabilization. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.