Possible Mechanism of Formation and Stability of Anomalous States of Water

Abstract

We examine the physical processes which are involved in the formation and stability of the anomalous states of water reported recently. The initial step of adding a small amount of ionic compound XY to pure water leads to the formation of water clusters (X^+)(H2O)_n and (Y^-)(H2O)_n with n>>1. The structure of the cluster around the ion depends strongly on the equation of state. We explore the consequences of possible polymorphic states of H2O in the liquid phase at room temperature. If there are low-lying polymorphic states, the local dipole moment and the local density will change discontinuously as a function of the radial distance from the ion, and regions of different polymorphic states will be found at different separations from the ion. Fragmentation of the cluster by vigorous shaking may break up the cluster into small domains to allow subsequent coalescence of these domains or the growth of the domains as seeds to form greater domains of polymorphic states. Further experimental and theoretical analyses are needed to study these pictures.