Polywater
Encyclopedia
Polywater was a hypothetical polymer
ized form of water
that was the subject of much scientific controversy during the late 1960s. By 1969 the popular press had taken notice, and by 1970 doubts about its authenticity were being circulated. By 1973 it was found to be illusory. Today, it is used as an example of pathological science
.
physicist Nikolai Fedyakin, working at a small government research lab in Kostroma
, Russia
, had performed measurements on the properties of water that had been condensed
in, or repeatedly forced through, narrow quartz
capillary tubes. Some of these experiments resulted in what was seemingly a new form of water with a higher boiling point
, lower freezing point
, and much higher viscosity
than ordinary water, about that of a syrup.
Boris Derjaguin
, director of the laboratory for surface physics at the Institute for Physical Chemistry in Moscow
, heard about Fedyakin's experiments. He improved on the method to produce the new water, and though he still produced very small quantities of this mysterious material, he did so substantially faster than Fedyakin did. Investigations of the material properties showed a substantially lower freezing point of −40 °C or less, a boiling point of 150 °C or greater, a density of approx. 1.1 to 1.2 g/cm³, and increased expansion with increasing temperature. The results were published in Soviet science journals, and short summaries were published in Chemical Abstracts in English, but Western scientists took no notice of the work.
In 1966, Derjaguin travelled to England
for the "Discussions of the Faraday Society
" in Nottingham
. There he presented the work again, and this time English scientists took note of what he referred to as anomalous water. English scientists then started researching the effect as well, and by 1968 it was also under study in the United States
.
By 1969 the concept had spread to newspapers and magazines. There was fear by the United States military that there was a polywater gap with the Soviet Union
.
A scientific furor followed. Some experimentalists were able to reproduce Derjaguin's findings, while others failed. Several theories were advanced to explain the phenomenon. Some proposed that it was the cause for increasing resistance on trans-Atlantic phone cables, while others predicted that if polywater were to contact ordinary water, it would convert that water into polywater, echoing the doomsday scenario in Kurt Vonnegut
's novel Cat's Cradle
. By the 1970s, polywater was well known in the general population.
During this time several people questioned the authenticity of what had come to be known in the West as polywater. The main concern was contamination of the water, but the papers went to great lengths to note the care taken to avoid this.
Denis Rousseau
and Sergio Porto of Bell Labs
carried out infrared spectrum analysis which showed polywater was made mostly of chlorine and sodium.
Denis Rousseau
undertook to experiment with his own sweat after playing a handball
game at the lab, and found it had identical properties. He then published a paper suggesting that polywater was nothing more than water with small amounts of biological impurities.
Another wave of research followed, this time more tightly controlled. Invariably the polywater could no longer be made. Chemical analysis found that samples of polywater were contaminated with other substances (explaining the changes in melting and boiling points), and examination of polywater via electron microscopy
showed that it also contained small particles of various solids from silicon to phospholipid
s, explaining its greater viscosity.
When the experiments that had produced polywater were repeated with thoroughly cleaned glassware
, the anomalous properties of the resulting water vanished, and even the scientists who had originally advanced the case for polywater agreed that it did not exist. This took a few years longer in the Soviet Union, where scientists still clung to the idea.
Denis Rousseau
used polywater as a classic example of pathological science
, and has since written on other examples as well.
It has been suggested that polywater should have been dismissed on theoretical grounds. The laws of thermodynamics predicted that, since polywater had a higher boiling point than ordinary water, it meant that it was more stable, and the whole column of ordinary water should have turned spontaneously into polywater, instead of just part of it. Richard Feynman
remarked that, if such a material existed, then there would exist an animal that would not need food. That animal would just ingest water and excrete polywater, using the energy released on the process to survive.
. It features an animal composed entirely of polywater, with the metabolism described by Richard Feynman.
Polywater is the central idea of the 1972 espionage/thriller novel A Report from Group 17 by Robert C. O'Brien
. The story revolves around the use of a type of polywater to make people controllable and incapable of independent thought or action.
The Star Trek
episode "The Naked Time" features polywater that is capable of infecting and spreading like a virus. Infected victims start sweating profusely at first, then lose their inhibitions, acting as though as they're drunk. This plotline was later revisited in the spinoff series Star Trek: The Next Generation
in the episode "The Naked Now."
Polymer
A polymer is a large molecule composed of repeating structural units. These subunits are typically connected by covalent chemical bonds...
ized form of water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...
that was the subject of much scientific controversy during the late 1960s. By 1969 the popular press had taken notice, and by 1970 doubts about its authenticity were being circulated. By 1973 it was found to be illusory. Today, it is used as an example of pathological science
Pathological science
Pathological science is the process in science in which "people are tricked into false results ... by subjective effects, wishful thinking or threshold interactions". The term was first used by Irving Langmuir, Nobel Prize-winning chemist, during a 1953 colloquium at the Knolls Research Laboratory...
.
Background
The SovietSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
physicist Nikolai Fedyakin, working at a small government research lab in Kostroma
Kostroma
Kostroma is a historic city and the administrative center of Kostroma Oblast, Russia. A part of the Golden Ring of Russian towns, it is located at the confluence of the Volga and Kostroma Rivers...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, had performed measurements on the properties of water that had been condensed
Condensation
Condensation is the change of the physical state of matter from gaseous phase into liquid phase, and is the reverse of vaporization. When the transition happens from the gaseous phase into the solid phase directly, the change is called deposition....
in, or repeatedly forced through, narrow quartz
Quartz
Quartz is the second-most-abundant mineral in the Earth's continental crust, after feldspar. It is made up of a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall formula SiO2. There are many different varieties of quartz,...
capillary tubes. Some of these experiments resulted in what was seemingly a new form of water with a higher boiling point
Boiling point
The boiling point of an element or a substance is the temperature at which the vapor pressure of the liquid equals the environmental pressure surrounding the liquid....
, lower freezing point
Freezing Point
Freezing Point is a news journal in the People's Republic of China which has been the subject of controversy over its criticism of Communist Party officials and the sympathetic ear it lent to a Chinese historian who had criticized official history textbooks...
, and much higher viscosity
Viscosity
Viscosity is a measure of the resistance of a fluid which is being deformed by either shear or tensile stress. In everyday terms , viscosity is "thickness" or "internal friction". Thus, water is "thin", having a lower viscosity, while honey is "thick", having a higher viscosity...
than ordinary water, about that of a syrup.
Boris Derjaguin
Boris Derjaguin
Professor Boris Vladimirovich Derjaguin was one of the renowned Soviet/Russian chemists of the twentieth century. As a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences he laid the foundation of the modern science of colloids and surfaces...
, director of the laboratory for surface physics at the Institute for Physical Chemistry in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, heard about Fedyakin's experiments. He improved on the method to produce the new water, and though he still produced very small quantities of this mysterious material, he did so substantially faster than Fedyakin did. Investigations of the material properties showed a substantially lower freezing point of −40 °C or less, a boiling point of 150 °C or greater, a density of approx. 1.1 to 1.2 g/cm³, and increased expansion with increasing temperature. The results were published in Soviet science journals, and short summaries were published in Chemical Abstracts in English, but Western scientists took no notice of the work.
In 1966, Derjaguin travelled to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
for the "Discussions of the Faraday Society
Faraday Society
The Faraday Society was a British society for the study of physical chemistry, founded in 1903 and named in honour of Michael Faraday. It merged with several similar organisations in 1980 to form the Royal Society of Chemistry...
" in Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
. There he presented the work again, and this time English scientists took note of what he referred to as anomalous water. English scientists then started researching the effect as well, and by 1968 it was also under study in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
By 1969 the concept had spread to newspapers and magazines. There was fear by the United States military that there was a polywater gap with the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
.
A scientific furor followed. Some experimentalists were able to reproduce Derjaguin's findings, while others failed. Several theories were advanced to explain the phenomenon. Some proposed that it was the cause for increasing resistance on trans-Atlantic phone cables, while others predicted that if polywater were to contact ordinary water, it would convert that water into polywater, echoing the doomsday scenario in Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was a 20th century American writer. His works such as Cat's Cradle , Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions blend satire, gallows humor and science fiction. He was known for his humanist beliefs and was honorary president of the American Humanist Association.-Early...
's novel Cat's Cradle
Cat's Cradle
Cat's Cradle is the fourth novel by American writer Kurt Vonnegut, first published in 1963. It explores issues of science, technology, and religion, satirizing the arms race and many other targets along the way...
. By the 1970s, polywater was well known in the general population.
During this time several people questioned the authenticity of what had come to be known in the West as polywater. The main concern was contamination of the water, but the papers went to great lengths to note the care taken to avoid this.
Denis Rousseau
Denis Rousseau
Denis L. Rousseau is an American scientist. He is currently Professor and University Chairman of the department of Physiology and Biophysics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine...
and Sergio Porto of Bell Labs
Bell Labs
Bell Laboratories is the research and development subsidiary of the French-owned Alcatel-Lucent and previously of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company , half-owned through its Western Electric manufacturing subsidiary.Bell Laboratories operates its...
carried out infrared spectrum analysis which showed polywater was made mostly of chlorine and sodium.
Denis Rousseau
Denis Rousseau
Denis L. Rousseau is an American scientist. He is currently Professor and University Chairman of the department of Physiology and Biophysics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine...
undertook to experiment with his own sweat after playing a handball
American handball
American handball is a sport in which players hit a small rubber ball against a wall using their hands.- History :...
game at the lab, and found it had identical properties. He then published a paper suggesting that polywater was nothing more than water with small amounts of biological impurities.
Another wave of research followed, this time more tightly controlled. Invariably the polywater could no longer be made. Chemical analysis found that samples of polywater were contaminated with other substances (explaining the changes in melting and boiling points), and examination of polywater via electron microscopy
Electron microscope
An electron microscope is a type of microscope that uses a beam of electrons to illuminate the specimen and produce a magnified image. Electron microscopes have a greater resolving power than a light-powered optical microscope, because electrons have wavelengths about 100,000 times shorter than...
showed that it also contained small particles of various solids from silicon to phospholipid
Phospholipid
Phospholipids are a class of lipids that are a major component of all cell membranes as they can form lipid bilayers. Most phospholipids contain a diglyceride, a phosphate group, and a simple organic molecule such as choline; one exception to this rule is sphingomyelin, which is derived from...
s, explaining its greater viscosity.
When the experiments that had produced polywater were repeated with thoroughly cleaned glassware
Laboratory glassware
Laboratory glassware refers to a variety of equipment, traditionally made of glass, used for scientific experiments and other work in science, especially in chemistry and biology laboratories...
, the anomalous properties of the resulting water vanished, and even the scientists who had originally advanced the case for polywater agreed that it did not exist. This took a few years longer in the Soviet Union, where scientists still clung to the idea.
Denis Rousseau
Denis Rousseau
Denis L. Rousseau is an American scientist. He is currently Professor and University Chairman of the department of Physiology and Biophysics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine...
used polywater as a classic example of pathological science
Pathological science
Pathological science is the process in science in which "people are tricked into false results ... by subjective effects, wishful thinking or threshold interactions". The term was first used by Irving Langmuir, Nobel Prize-winning chemist, during a 1953 colloquium at the Knolls Research Laboratory...
, and has since written on other examples as well.
It has been suggested that polywater should have been dismissed on theoretical grounds. The laws of thermodynamics predicted that, since polywater had a higher boiling point than ordinary water, it meant that it was more stable, and the whole column of ordinary water should have turned spontaneously into polywater, instead of just part of it. Richard Feynman
Richard Feynman
Richard Phillips Feynman was an American physicist known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics and the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, as well as in particle physics...
remarked that, if such a material existed, then there would exist an animal that would not need food. That animal would just ingest water and excrete polywater, using the energy released on the process to survive.
In fiction
The story "Polywater Doodle" by Howard L. Myers using the surname Dr. Dolittle appeared in the February, 1971 issue of Analog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact
Analog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
. It features an animal composed entirely of polywater, with the metabolism described by Richard Feynman.
Polywater is the central idea of the 1972 espionage/thriller novel A Report from Group 17 by Robert C. O'Brien
Robert C. O'Brien
Robert Leslie Conly was an American author and journalist for National Geographic Magazine.-Early life:...
. The story revolves around the use of a type of polywater to make people controllable and incapable of independent thought or action.
The Star Trek
Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...
episode "The Naked Time" features polywater that is capable of infecting and spreading like a virus. Infected victims start sweating profusely at first, then lose their inhibitions, acting as though as they're drunk. This plotline was later revisited in the spinoff series Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...
in the episode "The Naked Now."