Water's Fourth Phase

Water's just fascinating. It's the most common molecule in our bodies and on our planet, yet we know so little about it's deeper properties.

As far as we know, life originated in the oceans of a very young earth when only two or three percent of the globe was dry land. I've discussed the early life and the oxygenation of the planet in The Oxygen Catastrophe and have written several articles about water in the past. The conclusion is always the same: we know very little about this clear, life-giving fluid.

And whenever we learn something new it seems that it doesn't reach the headlines, and even in the science community itself some of the remarkable findings about water don't make any waves at all. Below I'll link a video from a TED talk presented by Dr. Gerald Pollack in 2013. We're now living in 2018, five years have past and I have seen the topics presented only occasionally mentioned since then. This I don't understand. Water is so essential to our existence, that I cannot understand why not ALL scientists double their efforts to solve the mysteries that remain about H₂O.

Our bodies' mass is for 70% made up of water. But when we count the molecules in our bodies, then we are made up of 99% watermolecules. Let that sink in for a moment; 99% of our molecules are the stuff that surrounded and gave birth to the first singe-celled living organisms. Don't you think that understanding this molecule as good as we possibly can should be of the highest priority to science?

So, what is this fourth phase of water? We all know the three phases we learned about at school: solid (ice), liquid (drinkable water) and gas (vapor). The fourth phase can be seen as existing somewhere between solid and fluid. It is a kind of "fluid crystal" where watermolecules form groups in a specific hexagonal pattern. And if we count the Hydrogen and Oxygen atoms in these groupings, we see that the "stuff" we're looking at isn't actually H₂O anymore, but rather H₃O₂. And these crystalline layers form when water comes into contact with certain materials.

When water comes into contact with so called "hydrophilic" (water-loving) materials, it forms these layers of grouped molecules; it grows into what's called the Exclusion Zone. It's called the Exclusion Zone, or EZ, because all foreign particles are pushed out of that zone: the H₃O₂ molecules are pure water, free from any contamination! Also, the EZ is negatively charged, while the main body of water is positively charged; this gives us free energy, as the water acts as a battery and they show lighting a bulb by sticking an electrode in the EZ and another one in the main body of water.

The energy needed to grow the EZ and to push out foreign objects comes from... light! And the most potent wavelength is infrared, a radiation that's literally everywhere. Actually discovered by accident, the EZ grows more when light's shone upon the water. Surface-tension is now better explained: the sunlight that hits the surface creates EZ layers in which the molecules are more tightly structured and negatively charged.

Just imagine the possibilities: free energie from water and light, filtering and desalination of water through the EZ, and all the implications for our health. From the Pollack Laboratory website:

Water and Health: We are studying the central role of water in health. We are two-thirds water -- by volume. In terms of the percentage of molecules, that two-thirds figure computes to a lot of water molecules: more than 99% of our molecules are water molecules. Evidence suggests that those 99% don't merely sit as the background carriers of the more important molecules of life, but are central participants. All that the cell does depends on water.
_{source: Pollack Laboratory}

Let me finish today's post with a new 2016 TED Talk by Dr. Gerald Pollack from two years ago. This time he focuses on the implications his research has for health, since our bodies are 99% watermolecules and each cell is filled with it.

Amazing stuff, water. And you, my fellow Steemians, are amazing to :-) Thanks again for reading the stuff that keeps my mind occupied and sharing your thoughts. I hope you'll be back tomorrow and until then, keep cool and keep steeming!