2005 Program
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2005 Participant: Jennifer Breidenich
 



Project Title:

Investigating Bistability: The Effect
of Adding Inhibitory Connections
to a Nickel Electrode System


Faculty Advisor:
Jack Hudson

 
 

(Above) Jennifer, and fellow Hudson-lab REU student
Kathryn Johnson, study graphs reflecting the change in
current of a nickel-wire array as voltage is varied.


Project Summary:

Bistability is defined as a behavior resulting from an autocatalytic effect in chemical systems, in which it is possible for systems to have more than one equilibrium state. Bistable regions are of interest to us when interactions between reaction sites are perpetuated because coupled systems hold properties similar to neural networks and might help to elucidate the mechanism behind the transmission of information between neurons in the human brain. Prior study in this field has not yet isolated the repercussions of adding inhibitory connections (negative resistance) to an electrochemical electrode system. My project will look at how negative coupling affects the bistable region of a system of nickel electrodes in an electrolyte of 3M sulfuric acid.

 
 
The chamber (on left) is used to place a nickel-wire electron array in sulfuric aid, where voltage can be varied in order to measure the change in current across the array.
 
 
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