This is a simulation of the Gray-Scott reaction-diffusion model running on the GPU. In such systems, an auto-catalytic reaction involving two chemical species is happenning concurrently with diffusion. Despite the apparent simplicity of the model, simulating it with cherry-picked sets of parameters produces a wide range of emerging behaviors.
- Run it in your browser : https://www.shadertoy.com/view/lXXcz7
- Detailed article : https://pierre-couy.dev/simulations/2024/09/gray-scott-shader.html
2 points
Hey ! I (superficially) looked up the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction and can confirm it is related to the Gray-Scott model.
The Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction involves an autocatalytic reaction and chemical species diffusing at different rates, just like in the Gray-Scott model. The main differences are related to constraints of doing actual chemistry instead of simulating it :
- The speed constant is (roughly) fixed for any given reaction (and temperature). Scientists cannot tune speed constants like I did in the simulation
- In the simulation, we constantly add some “food” and remove some catalyst. In an actual chemical reactor, there must be an process to achieve this. A real world implementation of the Gray-Scott model would probably use something like a semi-permeable membrane above/below the petri dish. In the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction, it is other chemical reactions that ensure “food” gets replenished and the catalyst gets consumed
2 points