'Floating Bridge' Property of Water Found

eldavojohn writes "When exposed to high voltage, water does some interesting things. From the article, '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.'"

Great!

Now we can build 25mm bridges to nowhere!! fp?

Re:Great!

Isn't the Internet made of 25mm tubes to nowhere?

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lol, it's official the mod system is broken.

hm

Like a bridge *entirely *composed *of troubled water...?

Re:hm

Finally! A bridge I can't burn!

Re:hm

What kind of asshole would I be if I didn't point out that there's no such thing as an asshole-proof bridge ?
http://green.yahoo.com/news/ap/20070910/ap_on_sc/burning_seawater.html [yahoo.com]

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This is going to set back witch hunts by generations.
Witches burn because they're made of wood.
So, some suggested we make bridges out of them.
But you can make bridges out of stone. But stone can't float, either.
So if we could see if she'd float, we'd know

I RTFA for a change

and it makes me wonder.. where they talk about the changes in water density.

IF you could find a way to change the density of water within living cells-- decrease slowly, and increase rapidly...

by oh say, 10% or more from standard...

When you decrease slowly, then cellular walls could expand to accomodate the increased volume without bursting...
now your return the density to normal (if necassary).. and before the cells recover- you freeze the cells-- and the expansion of the frozen water does not cause massive gross cellular damage.

now cyronics is much more achievable.. (of course, the voltages described do not seem condusive to application to living flesh,, but perhaps another method could be found for the same effect...)

Re:I RTFA for a change

One would imagine that, firstly, the cell walls could not take too much expansion and would likely ditch a lot of the water, secondly, that the cell walls would return to normal at the same speed as the water (if they matched the expansion, then why not the contractions?) and that, thirdly, one of the biggest cryo problems is that the water surrounding the cells become crystals and pierce the fragile cells, which this does nothing to alleviate.

Actually...

Actually the problem with freezing isn't the expansion, the cells could stretch enough to allow that. The problem is the ice crystals that tend to slice up the cells like a million tiny rasor blades. A further problem is cracking of the ice while it's go

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Actually, the problem isn't the *freezing* at all -- it's the thawing. When the system thaws, the reperfusion of oxygen into the tissue causes a sudden reanimation of biological processes that most organsims are unable to handle properly. Ice crystals al

Re:I RTFA for a change

I'd be curious if this also occurs in another natural high-voltage environment - thunder clouds. Do water structures form in clouds? How does this affect hail production? I used to think that hail stones would be carried upward by winds and grow over iterations of freezing droplets, but if a high voltage causes droplets to form larger balls of water which then freeze as they drop, that would be a simpler process.

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The static electricity in the clouds would certain be high enough voltage to do this, but I don't think it would be close enough together. In the experiment, the 'water bridge' was only able to be formed within a few mm of the anode & cathode. In th

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The water in the research at hand is clean (distilled) to a high degree, to avoid ionic conductivity. The water in living cells is VERY conductive and when you use high direct voltages, does Bad Things to these cells.

Now, high grequency alternating voltage

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The problem you get with cryogenics is that the ice crystals are breaking the cell walls regardless of the amount of water in the cell, and once the cell is thawed it leaks. The cell breakage is due to the fact that cells are freezing slowly (relatively) w

A med student's nitpick...

Human cells have membranes, not walls. Only plants and bacteria have walls.

Re:An engineer's nitpick...

Only plants and bacteria have walls.

...then what, praytell, is holding up your roof?

{couldn't resist...}

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Timbers? Girders? I don't think there's a load-bearing wall to be found here...

What's holding up yours?

Re:An engineer's nitpick...

What's holding up yours?

Why, an endless stack of turtles, of course...

Re:An engineer's nitpick...

I find it scary that someone actually found that informative.

Boring

Or you could increase the density of water for super-human powers, like instant brass knuckles. Although, if you wanted to preserve volume, you'd have to drink a lot of water beforehand and then expel it afterwords. You could achieve both of these by drink

Re:I RTFA for a change

When you decrease slowly, then cellular walls could expand to accomodate the increased volume without bursting...

I don't wanna hear about your fancy new penis pump.

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Screw cryongenics and water - find a way to change the density of fat cells, and most plastic surgeons will go out of business...

np: Burnt Friedman - Need Is All You Love (ft. Theo Altenberg) (First Night Forever)

The Abyss

So raise your hand if you think that was a Russian water-tentacle.

Re:The Abyss

So raise your hand if you think that was a Russian water-tentacle.

My money is on it being Japanese.

Alternative medicine

I predict we'll be seeing homeopathic "medicine" made out of this magick water within a few weeks.

Re:Alternative medicine

Sadly the parent should be moderated insightful rather than funny.

Re:Alternative medicine

Mod parent, er, um...

Re:Alternative medicine

I predict we'll be seeing homeopathic "medicine" made out of this magick water within a few weeks.

Correction - that would be homeopathic "medicine" that doesn't contain a single molecule of this magick water...

However, this is basically another way of making that amaxing wonder-drug called "placebo" which is so effective that it is the standard against which all other drugs are tested. And if the homeopath also sits you down, remembers your name from last time, gives you a nice cup of jasmine tea and has a nice sympathetic chat about your condition, how much stress you are under at work and whether you're eating properly... well, you probably stand a better-than-average chance of getting better.

Re:Alternative medicine

You do hit on an important point - people want to be treated by people who actually seem to care about the fact that they're suffering.

Too many doctors just poke, prod, wrap it up in 3 minutes, and generally act like you're a nuiscience that they have to endure to collect their paycheck.

I know somebody who had to wait a long time to visit a specialist, and took time to write up a brief one-page history of her condition and the various treatments to date and how they generally worked out. She also wrote up a list of medications (current, ones successfully used in the past, allergies, and unsuccessful medications). She also had a log of daily diagnostic tests as well.

The doctor couldn't really be bothered to read any of it and frequently asked questions that would have been covered in the history. The answers to those questions weren't nearly as complete as what would have been found in the history as well. The doctor would suggest stuff contradicted by stuff tried in the past, which would get pointed out. Despite going around in circles a few time he still didn't bother to read the history. In the end he ordered some tests and sent her home (where she'll no doubt need to bug him to follow up).

Would it have really hurt the doctor to spend all of 3 minutes reading the one page piece of paper which was obviously extremely important to his patient? Sure, he might notice a few mistakes in reasoning, and might be skeptical about some of the patient's conclusions, but perhaps it would at least reassure the patient if it seemed like the doctor even remotely cared about whether the patient actually recovered? And maybe the doctor would improve his success rate by at least considering all the information available - maybe it would contain some clue that would shape his reasoning?

I work in IT and am often confronted with customers who have misdiagnosed the source of their technical problems. I just patiently listen to them, gather additional information, and then explain what my thoughts are and why I think they are correct. If you take the time to treat your customers as if they have a brain they will generally respect your opinions (they're coming to you for help, after all). If on the other hand you just brush them off without explaining yourself then you'll find yourself with few customers. And the medical profession is in for one heck of a shock when the voters are done with them at the rate they're currently going...

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As opposed to asking the patient about the same information?

I would trust a written history before an oral one any time - at least they may have had a chance to edit out errors in the written version.

The huge ego of doctors gets in the way here...

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If she's ill, how can the Doctor trust the information she's provided to be accurate ?

Sounds an awful lot like: If she's mentally ill, how can she be trusted with any responsibilities? Which is a common first step in claiming that the mentally ill are not

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Yes, but this wouldn't be the 4 creams she put on her foot.

This would be multiple hopitalizations (including cardiothoracic surgery in one case, minor surgey (with significant risk of complications) in another case, and intensive-care in all cases), and hi

Message to God

We know your tricks, Jesus. You were generating large amounts of voltage through each of your legs. It's only a matter of time before we figure the other ones out!

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I have heard about a more mundane explanation there and that was that the sea in question actually had ice on it - probably in patches.

Or as the joke goes : Fisherman and Priest is out with a boat and suddenly the fisherman jumps overboard and it looks t

Re:Message to God

After the resurrection, Jesus goes around gathering his old Apostles. Wary of fraud, Thomas demands a test to prove that he's the real Jesus. So they go out to the Sea of Galilee, and Jesus walks out...only to find that he's sunk up to his knees. The apostles begin to disperse. Jesus asks Simon what went wrong, and Simon replies, "Last time you tried it, you didn't have holes in your feet!"

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They day we figure out how to make water into wine 98% of Higher education in America will cease to exist.

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Well, it would have been funny, but Moses parted the Red Sea not Jesus. Its also not funny becasuse this only works with distiled water the NaCl in sea water would prevent this from working. Sorry still a miracle...but keep trying I am sure God finds you

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Well, it would have been funny, but Moses parted the Red Sea not Jesus. Its also not funny becasuse this only works with distiled water the NaCl in sea water would prevent this from working. Sorry still a miracle...but keep trying I am sure God finds your

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Wait a FSCKING MINUTE! Are you saying Kansas doesn't exist?

crosses "empty space" ?

What does empty space mean here?
Was the experiment done in a vacuum, open air, or in space?

I recommend hiding the electrodes somehow...

...so you don't have to cope with skeptical people.

- What you said that is?
- A water bridge.
- That's bullshit.
- It's true. The water is floating between the beakers.
- Oh, really? Then I guess it's okay for me to touch to confirm it, right?
- I don't recommend that.
- I knew it. You're so full of shit.
- Okay, touch it if you want. But I wouldn't do that.
- *laughs* Yeah, I'll just touch this "water bridge" and we can't move on with our... AAHHH!!!
- *increases voltage gradually* That's for calling me a liar. Asshole.

This is only one of the odd features water have.

Since the water molecule is asymmetrical, and can sometimes be pictured as the head of mickey mouse with the head as oxygen and the ears as hydrogen atoms it sure is intriguing already there.

And to make things worse :-) it can be formed in a large number of types of ice, not only one type. Which type depends on the pressure involved. (I don't have the exact figure about how many types of ice that exists, but I think it's at least eight.) Some types of ice has a higher density than the liquid form of water while other as we are familiar with has a lower which results in the fact that ice floats. If ice hadn't been able to float life as we know it wouldn't have formed, or at least the oceans would be a lot different since the bottom would be covered in ice.

Depending on the temperature and pressure water can change state from solid to gas or vice versa without going to the liquid phase. There is also at least one point at which the properties that separates the gas form and the liquid form ceases to have a meaning and a fourth state is entered. If I remember it correctly it appears at a temperature of about 340 degrees C. (I may be wrong)

And even if we don't think about it as such water is actually one of the best solvents around. More often we think about some petrol or alcohol when we are saying solvent, but water is also our friend here. The reason why water and oil doesn't mix is because water is a polar molecule with a positive and a negative side while the molecules oil is built on are electrically neutral. An intermediate here are alcohols (a few of them drinkable, but most of them not - or only once) where one end of the molecule is electrically neutral and friend with oil while the other is polarized and water-friendly. This means that alcohols can be used when you want to mix water and oil. In some cases it is possible to create an emulsion of water and oil too, and one of the most common is mayonnaise (which most people has been in contact with).

Sometimes the term heavy water is making it's way through the news. It is actually ordinary water - chemically speaking - which means that there is no problem if you should drink it - except that it's rather expensive. The difference is that one or both of the hydrogen atoms in the molecule has an extra neutron or two. These forms are called deuterium or tritium. The extra neutron involved means that the atoms can be fused with each other to create helium. It is possible to fuse plain hydrogen atoms too, but the amount of energy needed is much larger and not precisely what can be done in a normal lab.

At least two cases has been in movies or TV series that I know of that refers to heavy water and special properties (neither of them plausible) and the first was a humor series involving English POW:s in a German camp where they were trying to seed the idea of the wonder properties of heavy water when it comes to hair growth to a bald German. The second was that it could be used to cure cancer. (don't believe either)

Re:This is only one of the odd features water have

Good one. Very Insightfull.

The point at which water and steam are the same is a line, actulally of pressure, that goes down to its 'Triple' point. Where without a change in potential, H2O can exist in all three phases. If you increase its pressure/tempratu

Surely this can't be new

I have a vague memory that in one episode of MacGyver, the hero did something like this to redirect water from the corrupt landowner's property to nearby drought-stricken peasant's fields. He used a car battery initially to get the voltage required to create the water bridge. But when the car battery started to die, he used the water to drive a small generator (made from an empty Wite-Out bottle, some fuse wire and scuba diver flippers) that produced the electricity to keep the water bridge going. It was a great episode, even if the perpetual-motion machine was a bit far fetched.

American beer does the same thing!

American beer does the very same thing.. /thought it was funny //is american.. drank american beer last night

Does it work with alcohol?

I'm thinking of a bartenderless bar, controlled by some OS.
And I'm talking about alcohol diluted enough that its not going to become a Flaming Moe.

How do you drill the hole?

This reminds me of a story about Queen Victoria (of Britain.) Someone was showing her around a factory where they were producing wire for electrical street lighting, and she asked:
                    "How do you drill the hole in the wire for the electricity to go through?"
While this revealed that she didn't understand how electricity works, it was rather a good question.

How does this relate to the matter at hand? Well, we need to come up with some good questions to help us work out how this water bridge thing works.

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Given that helium is a monatomic gas, nonpolar, and far less dense than water, I would have to say... no.

Oh, and then there's the fact that we already understand superfluid helium pretty damn well.

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Let's just hope the dolphins have read this article if they catch us walking towards the tank carrying severed high voltage lines.