NEAR HYDRATION OF SINGLY CHARGED MONOATOMIC IONS IN EXTREMELY DILUTED SOLUTIONS: THE EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE AND PRESSURE

The diffusion coefficient and the distance of translational displacement of Li+, Na+ K+, Cs+, Cl– and Br– ions in water at 298.15 K – 423.15 K (25 K step) and pressure from 0.0981 to 784.5 MPa (98.1 MPa step) were calculated from the literature data on limiting molar electrical conductivity. The values for these ions increase with pressure growth from 0.0981 to 98.1 MPa at 298.15 K. Further pressure increase (up to 785 MPa) leads to decrease in . Temperature growth under isobaric conditions leads to an increase in . Parameter (– ri) (deviation from the Stokes–Einstein law, ri is ion structural radius) was used as a criterion for the type of ion solvation. It is shown that Li+ and Na+ ions behave as cosmotropes, or positively solvated structure–forming ions having (– ri) > 0. The Cs+, Cl–, Br– ions behave as chaotropes, or negatively solvated structure–breaking ions having (– ri) < 0. For the K+ ion, the (– ri) deviation is alternating. At 0.0981 MPa and 298.15 K, the K+ ion is a chaotrope. But at 320 K (Tlim) parameter (– ri) = 0. It corresponds to the transition from negative to positive solvation. Above Tlim at P = const, the K+ ion is a cosmotrope. At 298.15 K and up to 98.1 MPa, the pressure causes the same change in the (– ri) deviation as the temperature. On the contrary, at 320 K and higher, the pressure affects the near hydration in the direction opposite to the temperature.

Succussed Serial Dilutions in Water Carry Solute Information via Solute-Specific Water Structures–A Theory Based on Quantum Electrodynamics

Active ingredients are unlikely to be present in homeopathic dilutions that surpass the Avogadro limit. Yet responses of biological systems to these substances—chemically equivalent to water and indistinguishable from one another—are specific to the materials that are diluted away. This article addresses this challenging problem of homeopathy by identifying its underlying cause through a quantum electrodynamics-based “structural model” stated as: Succussed serial dilutions in water carry information about the solute via solute-specific water structures. The model is verifiable by our three-stranded set of experiments—nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, anomalous dielectric dispersion, and atomic force microscopy. The results, some of which are presented here, directly or indirectly indicate that even extremely diluted solutions, devoid of any gross presence of the solutes, contain solute-reminiscent water structures. Apart from contributing to understanding high-dilution phenomena, these findings are expected to create an impact in the areas of medicine, pharmacopeia, and biology. Succussed aqueous dilutions acquire altered water structures with change of starting material: thus, their altered properties may be ascribed to these water structures, akin to allotropes of carbon. This theory justifies water structures as potential information carrier through succussed serial dilutions.

Intrinsic viscosity of PVP polymers in extremely diluted solutions

In conventional viscometry studies an additional treatment of data is necessary in order to obtain the expected linear dependence of the reduced viscosity on concentration in extremely diluted polymer solutions. This work reports on the direct measurements of this dependence using a new Couette-type viscometer. The values of intrinsic viscosity and Huggins coefficient of the studied poly(N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) (PVP) water solution notably differ from the previous results obtained by the traditional capillary viscometers. From the obtained data the parameters used in the bead-spring theories of polymer universal behavior, such as the gyration radius and the longest relaxation time are calculated.