Belousov–Zhabotinsky reactions are examples of chemical clocks. Specifically, by mixing two liquid compounds, a solution forms which changes colour every few seconds and which can be made to persist for several hours.
Today’s invention makes use of this phenomenon for the purpose of providing printed animations.
An inkjet printer is modified to dispense dots of the required chemical reagents (these can have their concentrations automatically altered in order to create different colour-change effects in the final document).
A page can then be printed in which regions switch colours periodically and thus enhance advertising material, storytelling or emergency instructions, by providing on-paper animation.
