Extreme Water -Science Observes H2O Acting Weird

Exotic new states of water caused  Harvard researchers to question what we really know about one of the most common and abundant substances on the planet.

First there was the discovery that you can actually burn salt water (see related posts below) if you zap it with just the right radio frequency, fueling hopes that plain old seawater could someday be converted to abundant clean energy. Now researchers are finding that water forms a floating bridge when exposed to high voltages. Other researchers also recently discovered that you can make water stay frozen at very warm temperatures if you coat it with a special diamond mixture. These are all surprising twists stemming from H2O—the abundant substance we all thought we knew so well.

Harvard physicists found that specially treated diamond coatings can keep hot water in a frozen state. (http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2007/09.20/09-hotice.html ) The researchers say the finding may be useful in certain medical implants, although others argue that diamonds might cause blood clots. In either case, the big news here is that diamonds can make water solid. Doctoral student Alexander Wissner-Gross and Efthimios Kaxiras, physics professor and Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics, found that even a very thing layer of diamond coated with sodium atoms will keep warm water in a solid state up to 108 degrees Fahrenheit.

As if that wasn’t weird enough, researchers from the University of Technology in Austria recently discovered that when exposed to a high-voltage electric field, water in two beakers will climbs out and cross empty space to join, forming a water bridge that appears to defy gravity.

The researchers noticed a pattern with the inner structures: every experiment started with a single inner structure, which then decayed into additional structures after a few minutes of operation. The group believes this decay is caused by either dust contamination or the increasing temperature of the water bridge under the electric field. As the water temperature increased from 20 degrees Celsius to more than 60 degrees Celsius—which took about 45 minutes—the bridge will finally, inexplicably collapse.

The scientists explain that the unusual effect of the floating water bridge, as well as the microstructures they observed during the interaction of water with electric fields, could be another piece to the puzzle of the structure of water. The group said that they are currently investigating how highly ordered microstructures may explain the density change in the water bridge.

It may be one of the most important and abundant chemical compounds on Earth, but the properties of plain old water is still a puzzle to scientists. Researchers are still trying to uncover the nature of water beyond the H2O scale, governed by hydrogen bonds, which is thought to be responsible for water’s many unique possibilities.

Rebecca Sato with Casey Kazan

Sources:

http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2007/09.20/09-hotice.html
http://physorg.com/news110191847.html

Comments

[link leisure]

The Abyss

[Sam]

Hmm, I seem to remember that a Middle Eastern holy man walked across a bridge of water 2000 years ago.

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

[Andrew T]

You've got a case of link-rot in this article; the Harvard link does not work, and redirects to their main page.

The "frozen high-temperature water" sounds quite interesting. I wonder if the water needs to first be frozen below 32 deg. F, or if it can be frozen at high temperatures right from the start. I also wonder if this could have potential applications in food preservation or cryonics....

@Sam: I think Occam's razor is the better solution for that problem. I.e. it is far more likely that that story was nothing more than the mythological fables of barbarian sheep herders. Keep in mind that the books of the bible were written decades to centuries after the events they claim to tell about, by mostly illiterate people whose primary means of passing down knowledge was through oral story-telling. Ever played the game "telephone" as a kid? Now imagine that played over a couple hundred years, and see what kind and how many errors in transmission you get. :-)

[man]

the books in the bilbe were copied from scripture. dont hate on the man jesus, he's real and changed the world (for the better) more than any other man ever in our history.

[Sam]

@Andrew T - thanks for invoking Occam! I was getting a bit carried away with the festive spirit! Tongue in cheek, stirring the pot and all that...it's an interesting connection though if you're into arcane Alien Jesus theories ;-)

@man - sure, Jesus or the myth of Jesus has impacted the world massively. If only his teachings were followed... Just think how much better the world would be if Christians actually adhered to his laws.

[baseball hats]

Pictures like that is what i real like.I like the cosmos very much.Thanks for your post.keep it up.

[Camron Sareja]

Happy new year to all.
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[Morgana]

Lets see this water bridge! If you're gonna write about something that LOOKS incredible, give us a visual!