At first glance water is a very common substance used every day to keep our basic need met and in fact, to keep us alive. We may think that scientists know all about it; however, if we take a closer look at its behaviour it can be surprising how many mysteries it has up its sleeve. It holds incredible potential to resolve some of the biggest problems of our civilisation. Scientists have studied water’s behaviour for centuries and arrived at often conflicting conclusions which at times led to abandoning water research for some time only to return to it at a later date. It looks like water research is back on the modern science agenda again.
Professor Gerald Pollack is a world’s renowned researcher and one of the leading scientists involved in the extensive water research in the field. In his latest book The Forth Phase of Water. Beyond solid, liquid, vapour he challenges some of the field’s long-standing assumptions about water and invites us on a fascinating journey to unravel the mysteries of this aqueous universe well hidden from our sight. His book is a collection of the latest findings in the arena of water research to date and an invitation to re-discover the natural world around us. Amongst others, his main areas of scientific interest include cell biology, principles of biological movement and the interactions between aqueous environments and biological surfaces.
During his broad research he and his dedicated scientific team conducted dozens of experiments to thoroughly examine “water’s social behaviour” and made interesting observations. As Professor Pollack assumed at the beginning water as a substance turned out to an extraordinary liquid, well worth studying. His scientific voyage has led him to what is considered the most significant discovery of this century which is a new phase of water.
So far, we have had three states of water such as solid, liquid and vapour. Pollack’s studies revealed that water phase can change beyond the above mentioned states and water’s behaviour depends on the environment. It has the ability to organize itself differently next to different surfaces.
The hydrophilic or water-loving surfaces such as nafion or muscle tissue interact with water and as a result, the water changes into so-called EZ water, also known as semi-liquid phase of water, liquid crystalline or just structured water which highlights its structural uniqueness and distinguishes it from the other phases. The fourth phase of water or EZ water has some extraordinary properties such as:
- It has a unique ordered structure which resembles honeycomb sheets stacked together parallel to the material surface.
- It forms next to almost any hydrophilic material/ surface (e.g. muscle tissue and other body cells, nafion polymer, zinc, polyacrilic acid gel) submerged in water; even water containers can build EZ.
- It excludes almost any substance diluted or suspended it water- it pushes out of the way any particles into bulk water layer beyond EZ layer and creates so called exclusion zone; hence its name exclusion zone water abbreviated to EZ water.
- The process of EZ water formation also creates charge separation- negative charge builds within EZ water and positive charge beyond it in the bulk water. Those separated charges resemble and behave like a battery and such water-based batteries can exist virtually everywhere. Your body cells act as nanobatteries as well.
- It stores energy in two ways- by creating order and charge separation. The EZ’s potential energy can be stored for subsequent use.
- Light fuels EZ formation and builds potential energy in water. However, the wavelengths of light can make a big difference to EZ formation. The most effective EZ water builder turned out to be infrared light which is free and omnipresent, even in lightless environments as it radiates from the earth itself. Acoustic energy can also facilitate EZ water creation. The energy from EZ formation can be given back to the environment or harvested to perform work.
- EZ charge separation is similar to photosynthesis- both processes start with water molecules splitting facilitated by light energy.
To sum up, from the future’s perspective the new scientific breakthrough linked with the fourth phase of water discovery may contribute to innovative solutions around harvesting the nature’s most important gift- the sun’s energy. Professor Pollack foresees replacing the current photovoltaic systems with new designs of water-based batteries utilizing free energy from nature which could potentially provide a solution to the world’s energetic crisis.