In this paper we present the dependence of the induction time of the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction (BZ) on the initial concentrations of malonic acid, bromate and cerium. The experimental results show that the induction time gets larger with bromate increasing and this behaviour does not agree with the mechanistic explanations based on the models proposed for the BZ reaction. We propose that a kinetic competition between the bromination of malonic acid and the oxidation of bromomalonic and malonic acids is a way to understand this behaviour. Model calculations using the GTF and MBM models support the propose explanation.
Induction period; Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction; oscillating chemical reactions
