Routes to fractality and entropy in Liesegang systems
- Department of Chemistry, American University of Beirut, Riad El Solh, 1107 2020 Beirut (Lebanon)
Liesegang bands are formed when solutions of co-precipitate ions interdiffuse in a 1D gel matrix. In a recent study [R. F. Sultan, Acta. Mech. Sin. 27, 119 (2011)], Liesegang patterns have been characterized as fractal structures. In addition to experimentally obtained patterns, geometric Liesegang patterns were constructed in conformity with the well-known empirical laws. Both mathematical fractal dimensions and box count dimensions for images of PbF{sub 2} and PbI{sub 2} Liesegang patterns have been calculated. Liesegang patterns can also be described by the entropy state function, and categorized as more or less ordered structures. We revisit the relation between entropy and fractal dimension, and apply it to simulated geometrical Liesegang patterns. We have resort to three different routes for the estimation of the entropy of a Liesegang pattern. The HarFA software enabled the calculation of the Hausdorff dimension and the topological entropy, then the information dimension and the Shannon entropy. In a third pathway, analytical calculations were carried out by estimating the probability of occurrence of a fractal element or coverage. The product of Shannon entropy and Boltzmann constant yields the thermodynamic entropy. The values for PbF{sub 2} and PbI{sub 2} Liesegang patterns attained the order of magnitude of the reported Third Law entropies, but yet remained lower, in conformity with the more ordered Liesegang structures.
- OSTI ID:
- 22351119
- Journal Information:
- Chaos (Woodbury, N. Y.), Vol. 24, Issue 2; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1054-1500
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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