3. Chemistry

A watershed moment in understanding how water conducts electricity

(feelphotoz)

Summary:

For over 200 years, scientists have speculated about the specific forces at work when two H20 atoms bond. “When electricity passes through water -- a process known as the Grotthuss mechanism” occurs. "The oxygen atoms don't need to move much at all," Johnson said. "It is kind of like Newton's cradle, the child's toy with a line of steel balls, each one suspended by a string. If you lift one ball so that it strikes the line, only the end ball moves away, leaving the others unperturbed." Johnson and his team have developed ways to fast-freeze the chemical process so that structures can be isolated to reveal the arrangements of atoms during the chemical reaction of water molecules. Previous attempts to capture the moving protons using infrared colour changes to see them always resulted in a blurry image that would not allow a “compelling connection between color and structure”. To combat this issue, Mark Johnson, a Yale chemistry professor, worked with only a few molecules of “heavy water”. Heavy water is made of “the deuterium isotope of hydrogen and chill them to almost absolute zero”. This made the images of the protons in motion become “dramatically sharper”. Through these images, scientists can understand how water conducts electricity.

DISCUSSION:

This topic can improve how people view positive electrical conduction with water. This will probably change what students of the future will learn in their science class, possibly through their textbooks if they still exist then. What inspires me from this story is the fact that the Yale scientists didn't give up on what they believed was correct, even despite many people ( including Mr.Scott) thinking that this case had already been solved. These Yale scientists have taken spectroscopic snapshots of the passage of extra protons from one water molecule to another during conductivity. Johnson and his team at Yale developed ways to fast-freeze the chemical process “so that transient structures can be isolated, revealing the contorted arrangements of atoms during a reaction. The practical uses for these methods range from the optimization of alternative energy technologies to the development of pharmaceuticals”. I find that really cool and interesting and would definitely like to learn more about how they managed to develop such technology.

Source:

feelphotoz. A Watershed Moment in Understanding How Water Conducts Electricity -- ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 27 Dec. 2016, https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161201164529.htm. Accessed 27 Dec. 2016.