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Does This Reaction Break the Second Law of Thermodynamics?



The Royal Institution

In the 1950s, Russian chemist Boris Belousov reported a bizarre reaction. A reaction that oscillates between two states. Could it be violating the second law of thermodynamics? Andrea Sella investigates.
Day 13 of our thermodynamics advent calendar: http://www.rigb.org/christmas-lectures/supercharged-fuelling-the-future/thermodynamics-2016-advent-calendar/13–the-belousov-reaction?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=201612_channel_advent

In the 1950s, Russian chemist Boris Belousov reported a bizarre reaction. It’s a reaction that can’t seem to make up its mind. As two liquids are mixed together, a colour change occurs, then reverses, then happens again, then flips back…

What’s going on? Could this seemingly spontaneously reversing reaction be violating the second law of thermodynamics? Chemist Andrea Sella demonstrates the startling Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction and explains why, in the end, no laws are broken.

The 2016 advent calendar explores the four laws of thermodynamics with a new short film each day, with explosive demonstrations, unique animations, and even a musical number. Open the calendar at http://www.rigb.org/christmas-lectures/supercharged-fuelling-the-future/thermodynamics-2016-advent-calendar?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=201612_channel_advent

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37 thoughts on “Does This Reaction Break the Second Law of Thermodynamics?
  1. The cyclic observation in chemical mixing is due to atomic property of substance used. Length of cycle depend on number of factors. When technology advance to enable you to see atom of different elements in action while combining, you will see the reason for your observation.
    A scientist know only living things Die, non living thing change, transform. Man's Law of thermodynamics, look it up. MG1

  2. Would've been nice to hear the chemical mechanism. Anybody who is watching this and also understands the second law would probably understand the reaction pathway.

  3. 'Curious chattering,'—I tried assuming that the stirrer was adding energy and upshifting the chemical balance till it'd radiated or evaporated enough to come back down …or… the blue was absorbing room light and heating back up to yellow… numerous hypotheses (classes) might be conjectured until you complete the experiment—which you never really showed….

  4. Hmm yeah but that is not actually explaining the reaction at all. If you find a way to violate the laws of thermodynamics I am sure I will hear about it in the papers I was more interested in finding out what's actually happening in the reaction.

  5. My mother did this for the last 15 or 20 years of her life. She'd get sick, go in the hospital, then recover. But she never got quite as healthy as before and over the years the time she was relatively healthy got shorter. Then starting last Spring she started down in a way that was different. I think we all knew that this time was going to be the last down turn, then last October she finally passed.
    I'm just glad there wern't the color changes like this stiff did.

  6. I think of it more of a hill with alot of up and down bumps so it starts at like 10 inches and is clear then goes to 5 inches and is yellow then goes to 1 inch and is blue then back up to 5 inches and is yellow again going back and forth until it can't make it up a hill and ends at the bottom between to hills at blue.

  7. Every laws: conservation of energy, conservation of mass, laws of thermodynamics were created based on philosophical reasoning then only came the physics/chemistry.

    But sure, scientists never think for a potential exceptions.

  8. This is a horrible explanation. How many different ways do you need to say the same thing? And you didn't even really explain the reaction properly

  9. 2nd law of thermal dynamics is wrong anyone that thinks different unfortunately is irrefutably incorrect and it's easier to prove it wrong than it is to prove right honestly in my opinion. Math books also tell you that undefined is the final answer when you can't solve an expression that has a fraction with a denominator of 0. Our math system is really bad when it finds itself in a corner needing to perform practical application. Not all the time. Prime numbers are not a mystery. It's honestly an easy concept and the 4th dimension is even easier to comprehend than that. The tesseract model they show us literally is so annoying and rude to show to people. Our math system hates infinity, when that's the most important constant there is. Yet we love to call things irrational, imaginary and undefined. People have moved on along long ago, contrary to what Bill Nye tell us. Btw I love Bill Nye don't get me wrong, my dad worked with him at the Keyport naval base in Poulsbo, WA even before he started his show. Go hawks Bill if you read this. 2nd law of thermal dynamics is incorrect!

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