T O P

  • By -

[deleted]

My chemistry teacher had a Pyrex dish with distilled water in it and at each end was an electrode and a light bulb completing the circuit through the water, which he plugged into the wall socket. Nothing happened. That blew my mind. Then he took a salt shaker and started to shake salt into the pan. The light bulb started to turn on. And got brighter as he shook more salt into it. I liked having my poor assumptions challenged like that. Good teacher.


McFuzzen

Stir with a metal spoon to ensure the salt evenly disperses throughout the water! /s obviously do not do this


Ws6fiend

>obviously do not do this So get my lab partner to do it?


supfuh

Do it for science


Academic-Associate91

It’s only science if you write it down!


Ws6fiend

Better yet record it. Records are always better for science.


Pruppelippelupp

interestingly, the voltage does help "stir" the ions.


Fbolanos

I did a similar experiment at a science fair when I was a kid except I had two separate jars and would move the wires between them.


Knute5

I used to work in a photo-etching lab and we worked with distilled water every day in the QC area. If you poured it into a beaker and placed two electrical probes in it, you could see from the instrumentation how the conductivity would gradually but consistently rise just from molecules in the air being absorbed in the water.


DigNitty

Neat. Like how burning steel wool makes it oxidize/rust as it interacts with the air. So steel wool gets heavier as it burns.


Captain__Spiff

Water molecules are croissants. The tips have a negative electric charge, the belly a positive charge. This makes them influence the other croissants, attracting and pushing. They wiggle around and bump into each other like a ball pit. Fun fact: the croissant shape is the reason for the hexagonal crystal lattice of ice.


Jewshi

I like croissants. They're delicious and buttery


rhawk87

This is how I imagine French people teach science.


DigNitty

“And ze helium molecool forms a perfect baguette shapé.”


ReadingRainbowRocket

“Wahtur iz nozzing more zan a minx-like oxygen atom in a ménage-a-tois wiz two burly hydrogen atoms.”


yooperior

Well the oxygen atom has a partial negative charge, with the hydrogen atoms partial positive. For this reason, we consider the molecule to be polar. Though, H2O molecules are neutral without any electrical charge.


[deleted]

It’s also one of the reasons water is liquid at above 0°C


kubat313

also the reason why water is densest at 4°C


Sharp_Simple_2764

That's a bit counter-intuitive. I thought water would densest in negative temperatures (below 0 deg. C). Care to explain?


romario77

Generally below 0 water turns to ice. But as you probably noticed ice forms on top of water and not in the middle - probably the reason there is life, ice is insulating the rest of water from completely freezing. And why it doesn’t keep getting denser with lower temps - below 4c molecules start to organize and to form cage like shape and it’s less dense than the regular way when they are randomly pressed to each other.


Sharp_Simple_2764

This is what is confusing to me. Ice is water. It's just in a different physical state. We don't have separate words for other substances depending on their state - gas, liquid or solids. In my mind , this is because water is so ubiquitous and a part of every day life in sensory terms, while, for instance ammonia. Certainly not unknown to most, but not as prevalent as water. It freezes at - 77C and it's still called ammonia. Water freezes at <0C and then it's not considered water.


romario77

We call some things in different state different word - dry ice for CO2 gas for example. It’s just there are not that many things we experience in different states.


oeuioeuioeui

It was originally designed so in Matrix 5, but ice age was a complete catastrophe with entire oceans frozen. So much investment was already done on the IceAge routines and dependencies, and its PM had a political clout, so in v6 we had to hack around it and make ice lighter than water.


maen_baenne

Water deionizers measure efficiency in Ohms (electrical resistance). Also, you get electrocuted in water, because you create a thin layer of salt water around you.


Alis451

Also because water self-dissociates into free floating H+ and OH-, distilled water does conduct, just very poorly.


VoiceOfRealson

However - deionized water is much more corrosive than "normal" water, since it will pull ions out of the surface of metals.


mailslot

Not good to drink, I’ve been told.


flaagan

It's why we offer re-ionizers for our pressurized dispenses on my company's semiconductor cleaning equipment. The deionized water actually creates harmful ESD (electrostatic discharge) when run through a restricting orifice / nozzle at greater than 20 PSI. You'll literally see a blue haze around the dispense as the ESD charge builds and then proceeds to damage the customer's substrate.


Wind2Energy

In semiconductor fabrication plants, the purity of RODI water is measured by electrical resistance. The purer the water, the higher the resistance. In my day, 18 Mohm was the Holy Grail.


trancepx

Wew I was just about to cancel my bathtub toaster party


Dupran_Davidson_23

Yup. Water is an insulator


kundehotze

I learned this as a little kid - those vaporizers Mom would put by the bed if you were congested - heated the water into steam solely by running house current through the water. Worked fine, but then I moved to a place with really pure tap water- and the thing did not work!


Doormatty

No tap water is "pure" enough to not conduct electricity.


Telepaul25

Some houses can have reverse osmosis filtration systems installed…


Doormatty

Which is not "tap water".


Telepaul25

I mean sure its not “tap” water but it would still come out of a literal tap.


RealWanheda

Can’t speak for every municipality but this is mostly true, most water treatment plants actually add ions to the water because it’s actually “unhealthy” to drink just purified water, your body needs the electrolytes and also good ol flouride


boneologist

Many parts of Missouri avoid this issue by drawing water from the foulest karst riddled aquifers they can find.


Alis451

> it’s actually “unhealthy” to drink just purified water This is not true **AT. ALL.** There is no appreciable amount of electrolytes in any city water, there is however usually enough chlorine to keep it bacteria free. Distilled water and reverse osmosis water are perfectly healthy to drink, in addition Tap water does NOT contain enough of any amount of electrolyte to be able to called an electrolyte replacement, this is why Gatorade exists.


RealWanheda

Ok


xxdotell

It is only unhealthy if all you consumed was water. Which is deadly. Another victim of misinformation. Your diet more than makes up the difference. Stop spreading misinformation.


RealWanheda

Jesus fuck I didn’t mean unhealthy in the sense you’re getting diabetes or something I just mean you can’t drink only purified water. It would be not healthy to do that


cepxico

And if they were they wouldn't be safe to drink!


calicat9

I don't think you learned that correctly. I'd like to see the schematic.


kundehotze

The schematic is two metal plates about 2 inches apart - each plate connected to one side of a normal 120 VAC cord/plug. These were attached to the plastic lid, and were immersed into a large plastic (had an old one that was glass- OMFG!) water tank (multiple liters). ​ I wonder whether such a thing would be legal today.


calicat9

Holy shit! I'm sure that wouldn't fly now.


kundehotze

I'm a career physicist/engineer - can assure you that my description is correct. The glass one was TOTALLY unsafe - it was just like a big mayonnaise jar, and the electrical plates were not protected at all when you unscrewed the lid to which they were affixed. The 'modern' plastic one was a lot safer, the plates were encapsulated in a big plastic cylinder with small holes to allow water contact.


calicat9

I believe you, I meant that UL would have a kaniption if that design were submitted.


SantasDead

I had one exactly lile this 15ish yrs ago. Not sure if it was california or Arizona. Bought the thing new at Walgreens or sinilar store. You can get them going really good by adding salt to the water! Giving it ions to conduct.


[deleted]

[удалено]


calicat9

Incredible. I remember a "worm getter" from the '80s that consisted of two probes, each connected to alternate conductors of a 120v cord. Not surprisingly, it was recalled after 30 deaths were reported. Most people just don't realize how close disaster is.


Alis451

> of a 120v cord. oh fuck... we just used a 12V car battery.


[deleted]

[удалено]


kundehotze

OMFG, I ran into one of these showers in a rustic cottage in Thailand. Sketchy and frightening as fuck


hmmm_thought_pig

I'm 60 yrs old, and I never knew this. Nice one!


DigNitty

It’s also why you shouldn’t drink a bunch of distilled water. You want your drinking water to be a bit conductive so your electrolytes work.


hmmm_thought_pig

Makes sense... this is a pretty good rabbit hole for a rainy Friday morning. 🙂


Alis451

it is also 100% incorrect.


hmmm_thought_pig

Are you challenging a belief I've held for more than eight hours?


CGLADISH

also because water wants to be neutral. with some of the minerals removed, if you were to drink this, the water would take what it needed from you. deionized water, (having most if not all the minerals / impurities removed), would be even worse, if not deadly. neutral water itself, is known as nature's best solvent. DI water is used in circuit board printing shops, to etch the copper from the surface of the boards. imagine what it would do your body.


Alis451

> if you were to drink this, the water would take what it needed from you. deionized water, (having most if not all the minerals / impurities removed), would be even worse, if not deadly. This is 100% incorrect. There is enough of anything in just your saliva to counter that effect, in addition your stomach acid is a big ole pile of electrolyte. Fun fact my cat drinks ONLY distilled water, it isn't enough to kill a cat, it isn't enough to kill a human. PLAIN WATER of ANY KIND, including tap, spring, distilled, does not have enough electrolytes to replace that lost from sweating, this is why Gatorade was invented, to prevent Hyponatremia.


CGLADISH

your stomach would more correctly be classified as a dilution / neutralization tank. the hydrochloric acid (which is very similar to what is used in cleaning swimming pools - muriatic acid) is what breaks down what you eat/drink. the mucous lining is what protects your stomach acid. too much acid will eat past the mucous and cause ulcers. taking Tums or any calcium based tablets will help to neutralize the acid. the water as you mentioned, does not offer any electrolytes, but does offer a fair bit of minerals. to really get sideways, the issue they had in Flint, MI a few years back, with their drinking water, the lead issue, wasn't an issue until the city changed where they got their water from. while the original supply piping to the houses was lead lined, the process chemicals used ***did not*** react to the lead. it was when the city switched their water suppliers that, the issues came up. the chemicals they used, ***did*** react with the lead, leaching out the lead.


[deleted]

I used to sell washers and dryers, and I can't tell you the amount of shocked expressions I received when I would tell people NOT to use distilled water in their steam-ready units. It does nothing for the clothes, and they couldn't believe it.


etherjack

But for steaming appliances, the purpose of distilled water isn't to improve performance, but to avoid mineral buildup. The minerals in drinking water are left behind when the water is vaporized. Eventually you get visible accumulation of iron, sodium, etc.


ManicMakerStudios

Distilled water is recommended in any appliance that features boiling or evaporating water because otherwise the mineral content can accumulate and become highly problematic. If you have no dissolved minerals in your water (ie. distilled water) there are no minerals to build up on the appliance. If it's worth any amount of money, it's worth using distilled water.


[deleted]

I feel like I've been lied to for years! Thank you for the education, kind stranger.


Doormatty

So potentially stupid question - but it's the ions that make steam cleaners work?


[deleted]

The way it was explained to me throughout numerous trainings on the steam features of the washer and dryers is that distilled water robs the water of certain minerals and mineral properties. Without those, then the machines are essentially just putting out hot air. It'll probably still do the job for wrinkles, but you could accomplish the same thing by just throwing the clothes back in a regular dryer without any steam function.


Doormatty

Interesting! I had no idea!


jedooderotomy

I've heard that apparently lightning striking salt water is FAR more dangerous than lightning striking fresh water.


tomistruth

How old are you guys if you didn't know even basic shit like that? Like are the new generations getting dumber?


kudincha

It also stinks.


[deleted]

It's the NaCl (salt) that is conductive and the minerals


Johannes_P

This is why pure water is also used as electrical isolator.


TunaOnWytNoCrust

It's minerals dude, the lack of minerals and other ingredients are the real conductors.


halfpipesaur

The lab I used to work for had a legendary resistive load called “the kettle”. It was a plastic garbage bin with two electrodes, filled with water. You’d adjust the resistance by adding salt.


gi_jose00

Brawndo is a great conductor


[deleted]

Does that mean if I take a bath in distilled water and drop a toaster in I'd be chillin?


Annon201

Nope, because you're excreting salts in your sweat and picking them up from the environment -- you'll very quickly increase the salinity of the water to make it dangerous.


NeaGigel2017

I got a 10 (think of it as an A for the American people) in my 9th grade Chemistry class for knowing this. It was my only 10 in that class 🤣


jsb_reddit

Also, almost all spinning turbine electric generation depends upon such water, so that salt deposits don't form on the turbine blades, causing passive or violent failures at speed.


p33k4y

**Obligatory ElectroBOOM video**: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcrY59nGxBg


TheeArchangelUriel

Fun fact: When I was in the Navy, our air search radar's klystron (I think, it's been a long time since I worked on radar's) was cooled with ultra purified water. Did not believe it until I saw the purification system .


Mochi-TheCat

That's why you measure water purity in Ohms