over the past ten years I've seen machines that purport to "ionize" water separating pH7 water into low and high pH fractions. These thing sell for
big bucks and I have to assume there is an additive in there somewhere otherwise how can water exist in two states, one acid one alkaline? The source
would have to be in the electrodes, generally Titanium but I really haven't a clue. I've seen and checked the outputs as to pH but not micro
mineralogy or evaporated weight. Does anyone understand how these things work or are supposed to work?ScienceSquirrel - 14-3-2011 at 10:51
The only way water can have an excess of hydrogen ions (acid soloution and low pH ) or an excess of hydroxyl ions ( alkaline soloution and high pH )
is if there is some balancing ion.
Basically it is a load of old sweaty nadgers!
Although there is no empirical evidence that ionized water is beneficial to human health, it is marketed with claims that it is an antioxidant and
can slow aging and prevent disease. Such claims contradict basic laws of chemistry and physiology.
ScienceSquirrel - 16-3-2011 at 07:45
I think the mechanism is quite simple.
Suppose the water is a weak solution of calcium sulphate, this is reasonable as a lot of water contains this as permanent hardness and other ions
normally present eg sodium, potassium, chloride, etc will act the same way.
The vendors state that the cell is divided by a permeable membrane that allows ions to pass.
On passing an electric current through the water, the calcium ions will migrate to the cathode and the water on that side will become weakly alkaline
as water disssocates to form hydroxyl ions to balance the charge.
Similarly the sulphate ions will move to the anode and the water will form hydronium ions to compensate.
The hydroxyl and hydronium ions will cancel each other out by rapid transfer across the membrane and voila, weak solutions of sulphuric acid and
calcium hydroxide.
The vendors do warn that in hard water areas their product may make a stronger solution than in soft water areas.
The weakly alkaline or acid solutions would be mildly bacteriostatic on surfaces but swallowing them would have no effect as the human body is
strongly buffered to maintain physiological pH.
If you use deionised water and the machine has no source of ions inside it, eg a cartridge filled with calcium sulphate then the output should be
pretty much neutral on both sides.chemrox - 6-4-2011 at 20:09
@sciencerodent- this is where I got to as well. What is the supply of electrolyte though and for that matter what is the electrolyte? The more
expensive ones have a prefilter or deionizing filter in front and handle tap water. the slightly cheaper ones handle deionized water of commerce.
as far as the wiki goes- medical science is an oxymoron. Based as it is on the Cartesian fallacy. But that's all beside the point-whether there's
any benefit or not. It's the idea that's being sold that pure water could be divided in a way counter to chemical thermodynamics. Machines exist
that make the appearance of doing so. What is being hidden? What's really being done?
[Edited on 7-4-2011 by chemrox]ScienceSquirrel - 7-4-2011 at 03:09
Please try to be more civil, I am trying to help you.
There are filters in these machines but they remove chlorine and small particulates leaving the ions in solution.
If you have a look at step 3 on the following page you will see that they operate by the process that I described.
