Hexagonal water
Hexagonal water is a term used in a marketing scam[1][2] that claims the ability to create a certain configuration of water that is better for the body.[3] The term "hexagonal water" refers to a cluster of water forming a hexagonal shape that supposedly enhances nutrient absorption, removes metabolic wastes, and enhances cellular communication, among other things.[4] Similar to the dihydrogen monoxide hoax, the scam takes advantage of the consumer's limited knowledge of chemistry, physics, and physiology.
Claims
The claims central to hexagonal water include:
- "Hexagonal water is composed of six individual molecules of water, held together by common hydrogen bonds."[3]
- "biological organisms prefer the six-sided (hexagonal) ring-structure, found naturally in snow water"[3]
- "The percentage of hexagonal units appears to depend on a number of factors, including toxin levels, mineral content, motion, and energetic influences"[4]
- "Most tap water and bottled water is composed of large water conglomerates that are too big to move freely into the cells. It must be re-structured within the body to penetrate the cells."[3]
- "Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) has the ability to measure molecular size and has been recently employed to determine the structure of the water inside the body."[3]
- "far infrared energy, magnetic fields, vortices and turbulence ... (are used) to create an oxygen-rich, alkaline, energized and uniquely structured Hexagonal Water."[3]
- Hexagonal water is associated with aging.[3][4]
- this kind of water is found in healing springs, such as Lourdes water.[4]
Incompatibilities with science
The concept of hexagonal water clashes with several established scientific ideas. Although water clusters have been observed experimentally, they have a very short lifetime: the hydrogen bonds are continually breaking and reforming at timescales shorter than 200 femtoseconds.[5] This contradicts the hexagonal water model's claim that the particular structure of water consumed is the same structure used by the body. Similarly, the hexagonal water model claims that this particular structure of water "resonates with energetic vibrations of the body to amplify life force".[2] Although water molecules strongly absorb energy in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum, there is no scientific evidence that supports the theory that hexagon-shaped water polymers would be created through bombardment of energy of these frequencies.[2]
In addition, the hexagonal water model's claim that water's structure can be determined through nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging is inconsistent with the limitations of the method. In laboratory settings, NMR imaging instruments cannot distinguish between pure water, impure water, or urine.[1] The experimental observation[6][7] of water clusters requires spectroscopic tools such as Far-infrared (FIR) vibration-rotation-tunneling (VRT) spectroscopy (an infrared spectroscopy technique).
See also
- List of topics characterized as pseudoscience
- Penta Water, another variation of "structured water"
References
- 1 2 Rowe, Aaron (2008-03-17). "Video: Hexagonal Water is an Appalling Scam". Wired Science. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
- 1 2 3 "Drinking Water and Water Treatment Scams" (PDF). Alabama Cooperative Extension System. 2003-10-22. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Understanding Hexagonal Water". Aqua Technology. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
- 1 2 3 4 "Hexagonal Water". Frequency Rising. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
- ↑ Smith, Jared D.; Christopher D. Cappa; Kevin R. Wilson; Ronald C. Cohen; Phillip L. Geissler; Richard J. Saykally (2005). "Unified description of temperature-dependent hydrogen-bond rearrangements in liquid water" (PDF). Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 102 (40): 14171–14174. Bibcode:2005PNAS..10214171S. doi:10.1073/pnas.0506899102. PMC 1242322
. PMID 16179387. - ↑ C. J. Gruenloh; J. R. Carney; C. A. Arrington; T. S. Zwier; S. Y. Fredericks; K. D. Jordan (1997). "Infrared Spectrum of a Molecular Ice Cube: The S4 and D2d Water Octamers in Benzene-(Water)8". Science. 276 (5319): 1678. doi:10.1126/science.276.5319.1678.
- ↑ M. R. Viant; J. D. Cruzan; D. D. Lucas; M. G. Brown; K. Liu; R. J. Saykally (1997). "Pseudorotation in Water Trimer Isotopomers Using Terahertz Laser Spectroscopy". J. Phys. Chem. a. 101 (48): 9032. doi:10.1021/jp970783j.