By the sweat of the head – Science News, January 23, 1971
Polish water or anomalous water has caused an ongoing controversy among chemists. It is hard enough to believe that water can take on a form as viscous as molasses and have an atomic weight several times higher than that of a common water molecule … However, from the beginning there were doubts and how the proponents of pulley water failed more and more … in their attempts to produce convincingly large quantities, the doubters began to have their tickets.
Update
Polished water evaporated when scientists confirmed that impurities in ordinary water were responsible for the strange properties (SN: 01/1/73, p. 133). In the decades following that relief, physicists continued to be baffled by other peculiarities of H2O. For example, hot water sometimes appears to freeze faster than cold water, a phenomenon known as the Mpemba effect. A study of glass beads suggests that hot objects may take thermal shortcuts to reach the frozen finish line first (SN: 9/12/20, p. 16). The jury still does not know if the water, with all its complexity, behaves the same.
Be First to Comment