Exploding Chemical Gardens: A Phase-Change Clock Reaction

Chemical gardens and clock reactions are two of the best-known demonstration reactions in chemistry. Until now these have been separate categories. We have discovered that a chemical garden confined to two dimensions is a clock reaction involving a phase change, so that after a reproducible and controllable induction period it explodes.J.H.E.C. and C.I.S.D. acknowledge the financial support of the Spanish MINCINN projects FIS2016-77692-C2-2-P and PCIN-2017-098. The authors acknowledge the contribution of the COST Action CA17120