Chemical Gardens

Spiral precipitation patterns in confined chemical gardens.

Chemical gardens are mineral aggregates that grow in three dimensions with plant-like forms and share properties with self-assembled structures like nanoscale tubes, brinicles, or chimneys at hydrothermal vents. The analysis of their shapes remains a challenge, as their growth is influenced by osmosis, buoyancy, and reaction-diffusion processes. Here we show that chemical gardens grown by injec...

Oscillatory growth of silica tubes in chemical gardens.

We report distinct growth regimes of hollow silica fibers formed by hydrodynamic injection of cupric sulfate into silicate solution. The tubes grow either steadily along a continuous jet of buoyant solution or through relaxation oscillations that are governed by chemo-mechanical processes. The dependence of the oscillation period on flow rate and copper concentration is explained in the framewo...

Creative Gardens

Can we move beyond simply networking creative individuals to establishing diverse communities of practice for innovation through discursive methods. Furthermore, can we digitise their creativity activities within an integrative socio-cultural collaborative technology platform that could then support distributed innovation. First, we consider the complexity of creative cultures from the perspect...

Iranian Languages as Gardens

Silica tubes in chemical gardens: Radius selection and its hydrodynamic origin

– Chemical gardens consist of hollow silica fibers that form from silicate solution upon seeding with salt crystals or injection of salt solution. We investigate the outer radius of these tubes for steady and oscillatory growth dynamics. The radius increases with increasing injection rates and concentrations of cupric sulfate seed solution. For steady growth, we find that the tube radii are des...