The synchronization of chemically driven oscillators plays a crucial role in various biological motions. An artificial model system of these chemo-mechanical oscillators is proposed in this study. The oscillator is composed of three liquid layers (oil/water/oil), which exhibit a back and forth motion in a glass tube. This motion is caused by the chemical reaction between a water-soluble surfactant and oil-soluble anions. The frequency is unique for an individual experimental setup because it depends on the surface state of the glass sensitively. When the glass tube with the liquid oscillator is placed on a plate with mechanical vibration, the frequencies of the oscillator and mechanical vibration become similar within a certain frequency range of mechanical vibration. When two or more glass tubes are placed in a boat floating on a water surface, all frequencies agree with each other by the joggling motion of the boat. The entrainment into the external vibration and mutual synchronization on the boat are explained by a simple mathematical model. The proposed chemo-mechanical oscillator may be used as a primitive model system for studying the interplay of macroscopic motion and molecular scale processes that control chemically driven motion.

中文翻译：

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化学机械振荡器的同步

化学驱动振荡器的同步在各种生物运动中起着至关重要的作用。这些化学机械振荡器的仿真模型系统被提出在这项研究中。振荡器由三个液体层（油/水/油）组成，它们在玻璃管中表现出来回运动。该运动是由水溶性表面活性剂和油溶性阴离子之间的化学反应引起的。该频率对于单个实验设置是唯一的，因为它敏感地取决于玻璃的表面状态。当将具有液体振荡器的玻璃管置于具有机械振动的板上时，在一定的机械振动频率范围内，振荡器的频率和机械振动变得相似。当将两个或多个玻璃管放在漂浮在水面上的小船中时，所有频率通过船的慢速运动彼此一致。通过简单的数学模型解释了船上外部振动的夹带和相互同步。所提出的化学机械振荡器可以用作研究宏观运动和控制化学驱动运动的分子尺度过程之间相互作用的原始模型系统。