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poke smot!
floccinocci floofinator



Registered: 01/08/03
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Water forms floating 'bridge' when exposed to high voltage
#7467637 - 09/29/07 03:50 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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<a href="https://www.mind-media.com/go.php?http://www.physorg.com/news110191847.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.physorg.com/news11019<wbr>1847.html</a> </font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr /> (image) When water in two beakers is exposed to a high voltage, a floating water bridge forms between the beakers. Credit: Elmar Fuchs, et al.
While it's one of the most important and abundant chemical compounds on Earth, water is still a puzzle to scientists. Much research has been done to uncover the structure of water beyond the H2O scale, which is thought to be responsible for many of water’s unique properties. However, the nature of this structure, governed by hydrogen bonds, is currently unknown.
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“Water undoubtedly is the most important chemical substance in the world,” explained Elmar Fuchs and colleagues from the Graz University of Technology in Austria in a recent study. “The interaction of water with electric fields has been intensely explored over the last years. We report another unusual effect of liquid water exposed to a dc electric field: the floating water bridge.”
When exposed to a high-voltage electric field, water in two beakers climbs out of the beakers and crosses empty space to meet, forming the water bridge. The liquid bridge, hovering in space, appears to the human eye to defy gravity.
Upon investigating the phenomenon, the scientists found that water was being transported from one beaker to another, usually from the anode beaker to the cathode beaker. The cylindrical water bridge, with a diameter of 1-3 mm, could remain intact when the beakers were pulled apart at a distance of up to 25 mm.
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Why water would act this way was a surprise, Fuchs told PhysOrg.com. But the group’s analyses have shown that the explanation may lie within the nature of the water’s structure. Initially, the bridge forms due to electrostatic charges on the surface of the water. The electric field then concentrates inside the water, arranging the water molecules to form a highly ordered microstructure. This microstructure remains stable, keeping the bridge intact.
The scientists reached the microstructure hypothesis after observing that the density of the water changes between the beaker edges and the center of the bridge. A microstructure consisting of an arrangement of water molecules could have a similar density variation.
In their experiments, the scientists also discovered the existence of high frequency oscillations inside the bridge, and they observed corresponding inner structures with a high-speed camera and visualization system. Unlike the much slower surfaces waves, these high frequency oscillations weren’t caused by surface tension. Rather, the scientists predict that the oscillating structures were triggered by the waviness of the voltage supply itself.
The researchers noticed a pattern with the inner structures: every experiment started with a single inner structure, which then decayed into additional structures after a few minutes of operation. The group thought that this decay might be caused by either dust contamination or the increasing temperature of the water bridge under the electric field. As the water temperature increased from 20 degrees Celsius to more than 60 degrees Celsius—which took about 45 minutes—the bridge collapsed.
The scientists explain that the unusual effect of the floating water bridge, as well as the microstructures they observed during the interaction of water with electric fields, could be another piece to the puzzle of the structure of water. The group said that they are currently investigating how highly ordered microstructures may explain the density change in the water bridge, with the results to appear in a future publication.
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That's pretty wild...
Edited by poke smot! (09/07/20 02:42 PM)
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PhanTomCat
Teh Cat....



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Re: Water forms floating 'bridge' when exposed to high voltage [Re: poke smot!]
#7468370 - 09/29/07 08:45 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet......!

>^;;^<
-------------------- I'll be your midnight French Fry.... "The most important things in life that are often ignored, are the things that one cannot see...." >^;;^<
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero



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Re: Water forms floating 'bridge' when exposed to high voltage [Re: poke smot!]
#7469130 - 09/30/07 04:49 AM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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Very cool! Thanks for posting, and glad to see you back to your original name.
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WScott
´ ɑ `▽ ᑲᓇᑕ



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Re: Water forms floating 'bridge' when exposed to high voltage [Re: Seuss]
#7490843 - 10/06/07 09:24 AM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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Wow.. thanks for posting this. The applications of this, once it is developed more, are going to be incredible!
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ZippoZ
Knomadic



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Re: Water forms floating 'bridge' when exposed to high voltage [Re: WScott]
#7491067 - 10/06/07 11:27 AM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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so apparently that must increase the polarity of the water molecules themselves?????
-------------------- PEACE
zippoz "in times of widespread chaos and confusion, it has been the duty of more advanced human beings - artists, scientists, clowns, and philosophers - to create order. In such times as ours however, when there is too much order, too much m management, too much programming and control, it becomes the duty of superior men and women and women to fling their favorite monkey wrenches into the machinery. To relieve the repression of the human spirit, they must sow doubt and disruption" "People do it every day, they talk to themselves ... they see themselves as they'd like to be, they don't have the courage you have, to just run with it."
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Acyl
cyanidepoisoning


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Re: Water forms floating 'bridge' when exposed to high voltage [Re: poke smot!]
#7491974 - 10/06/07 04:42 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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Nice find
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1 ,2
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MrKite1
Cosmo

Registered: 03/02/04
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Re: Water forms floating 'bridge' when exposed to high voltage [Re: poke smot!]
#7495771 - 10/07/07 06:59 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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That is a pretty neat article. It is nice to see some theory behind this.
I can't say I'm suprised, I have played with water in the presence of high voltage before and it does behave in an interesting fashion. I've seen this pulling DC arcs to the surface of water but I never thought to try and form a stable "bridge" as described and pictured in that article.
Very cool.
-------------------- When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
Edited by MrKite1 (10/07/07 07:00 PM)
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TODAY
Battletoad


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Re: Water forms floating 'bridge' when exposed to high voltage [Re: WScott]
#7497549 - 10/08/07 01:25 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
WScottsdale said: Wow.. thanks for posting this. The applications of this, once it is developed more, are going to be incredible!
Really?
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MrKite1
Cosmo

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Re: Water forms floating 'bridge' when exposed to high voltage [Re: TODAY]
#7498431 - 10/08/07 04:56 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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I wonder what sort of applications he has in mind?
Aside from furthering our understanding I can't think of any visceral application of this particular phenomena.
It seems destined to just be yet another high voltage novelty.
-------------------- When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
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RuNE
bomberman


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Re: Water forms floating 'bridge' when exposed to high voltage [Re: MrKite1]
#7501324 - 10/09/07 11:31 AM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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1. Design thin, plastic, electro-resistant bubble.
2. Insert human into bubble.
3. Shoot bubble thru giant water bridge spanning the Grand Canyon.
Christ you guys lack imagination!
-------------------- ~Happy sailing~
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johnm214



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Re: Water forms floating 'bridge' when exposed to high voltage [Re: RuNE]
#7502240 - 10/09/07 05:15 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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i don't know about the applications. I'm sure the resistance is pretty high (unless they used some electrolytes in the water- presumably not).
Cool pic, but result seems intuitive really.
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero



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Re: Water forms floating 'bridge' when exposed to high voltage [Re: johnm214]
#7502271 - 10/09/07 05:24 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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> 3. Shoot bubble thru giant water bridge spanning the Grand Canyon.
4. Watch giant water bridge collapse as tiny soap particle breaks surface tension. 
> I'm sure the resistance is pretty high (unless they used some electrolytes in the water- presumably not).
Without electrolytes, water is a very good insulator.
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PhanTomCat
Teh Cat....



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Re: Water forms floating 'bridge' when exposed to high voltage [Re: Seuss]
#7502698 - 10/09/07 07:14 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
Seuss said: 4. Watch giant water bridge collapse as tiny soap particle breaks surface tension.
That wouldn't really do anything, would it....? The article says that it is initially surface tension + static charges that cause the bridge to form, but then the structure of the molecules turns into a "highly ordered microstructure" - on the inside.... I wish they had a video of the bridge forming - in time lapse if necessary....
My first thought upon reading this article was more along the lines of the water tricks in the movie "The Abyss"....  But, that wasn't a closed circuit like the article is describing.... 
>^;;^<
-------------------- I'll be your midnight French Fry.... "The most important things in life that are often ignored, are the things that one cannot see...." >^;;^<
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johnm214



Registered: 05/31/07
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Re: Water forms floating 'bridge' when exposed to high voltage [Re: Seuss]
#7506634 - 10/10/07 06:58 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
Seuss said:
> I'm sure the resistance is pretty high (unless they used some electrolytes in the water- presumably not).
Without electrolytes, water is a very good insulator.
agreed, which is why the resistance would be high
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