After all this time and technological advancment, we still need to learn more about H2O (Photo via iStock)
You may think you know everything about water, thanks to middle school science classes. Scientists thought so too, but a team at New York University recently discovered new molecular properties of water that had previously gone unnoticed.
Water is an efficient transporter of its own autoionization components, which are the charged particles, protons, and hydroxide ions created when an H2O molecule splits. It was assumed that autoionization transportation happened through a single mechanism, dictated by a single variable, the direction of the involved hydrogen bond. But, new theoretical models and computer simulations showed the transportation mechanism has a fundamental asymmetry. This is something that could be used in different applications, but scientists struggle to demonstrate the asymmetry in the lab.
A group of scientists at NYU took on the challenge and created a new experiment to show the mechanism’s asymmetry. The processed involved cooling down water to four degrees Celsius, which is the temperature of maximum density and where asymmetry is supposed to most strongly manifest. Bringing the water to this temperature allows it to be detected. The hydrogen atoms can now freely move from one water molecule to another, which enables the fluid transportation of the water’s charged particles. The speed at which hydrogen atoms hopped from one molecule to another was altered when the water was cooled to maximum density.
Whereas prior research showed that two main geometrical arrangements of hydrogens bonds facilitate hops, the scientists found that one of the arrangements resulted in significantly slower hops for OH.
"The study of water's molecular properties is of intense interest due to its central role in enabling physiological processes and its ubiquitous nature," NYU professor Alexej Jerschow said in a news release. "The new finding is quite surprising and may enable deeper understanding of water's properties as well as its role as a fluid in many of nature's phenomena."
Scientists think this previously unnoticed property could help develop new water-powered technologies. The team is currently working on ways to “exploit this asymmetry to design new materials for clean energy applications and knowing that we are starting with a correct model is central to our continued progress.” They will incorporate other research, such as the study of enzyme function in the body and how living organisms can thrive in harsh conditions, into their future research to see how it impacts their findings.
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