Master thesis defense by Jakob Krebs

Entropy conservation in mechanical and chemical oscillations

Abstract

In physics, oscillations are thought of as adiabatic, conserving energy and entropy, which results in temperature oscillations. Conversely, chemical oscillations are typically modeled using concentrations, ignoring temperature and entropy.

However, evidence suggests chemical oscillations also exhibit temperature variations. This experimental and theoretical thesis studies temperature and concentration changes in the Belousov-Zhabotinsky and Briggs-Rauscher reactions, comparing them to physical oscillators (springs and capacitors).

Using non-equilibrium thermodynamics, the goal is to understand similarities and differences between chemical and physical oscillations.