Abstract
In a stirred tank reactor at 25 °C, the reaction between chlorite and thiosulfate ions exhibits a rich variety of oscillatory phenomena. On decreasing the flow rate at an appropriate fixed input composition, one observes periodic large amplitude oscillations (L), then a range of flow rates in which each period contains one large and one small amplitude peak (L + S), followed by L + 2S, L + 3S.....L + 16S and finally pure small amplitude oscillations (S or L + =S). Between each pair of periodic oscillatory ranges (L + nS, L + ( + 1)S) there exists a narrow range of flow rates in which an apparently random mixture of L + nS and L + ( + 1)S oscillations is found. The entire sequence may also be observed by varying the temperature at fixed composition and flow rate. The implications of these results for the possible existence of chemical chaos in this system are discussed.