The Comprehensive experimental research on the autothixotropy of water

Abstract

A description is presented of the research on recently observed phenomenon that we call ''the autothixotropy of water''. The phenomenon is very weak on macroscopic scale and it appears only if the water is standing still for a certain time. It causes a force of mechanic resistance against an immersed body, arising when it should change its position. Both static and dynamic methods are used: With a static method a moment of force, necessary for a very prominent turn of a stainless steel plate, hung up on a thin filament and immersed in standing water, is measured. With a given angular torsion of the filament, a certain moment of force is reached a (state of stress reaches a critical value) in the water, which is demonstrated by impressive changing of angular position of the plate. When a dynamic methods were used, both oscillations of the plate and a very slow fall of a small ball in standing water were observed. The autothixotropy of water can be explained by a hypothesis of cluster formation by H2O molecules in standing water. As the phenomenon of autothixotropy does not appear in deionized water, a conclusion can be preliminary drawn, that the phenomenon is determined by a presence of ions in the water © 2006 Springer.