Water
Structure and Behavior
Martin
Chaplin
Liquid
water (H2O) is often perceived to be pretty ordinary
as it is transparent, odorless, tasteless and found everywhere.
However, it is the most remarkable substance. Although we drink
it, wash, fish and swim in it, and cook with it (although probably
not all at the same time), we nearly always overlook the special
relationship it has with our lives. Droughts cause famines and floods
cause death and disease. We are about two-thirds water and, without
it, we die within a few days. Life cannot evolve or continue without
liquid water, which is why there is so much fuss about water being
found on Mars. Because of its clear importance, water is the most
studied material on Earth. It comes as a surprise, therefore, to
find that its behavior and function are so poorly understood (or
even ignored), not only by people in general, but also by scientists
working with it everyday.
| Water
seems, at first sight, to be a very simple molecule, consisting
of just two hydrogen atoms attached to an oxygen atom. Indeed,
there are very few molecules that are smaller or lighter. |
![[water, H2O]](/p/aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmc/web/20040609101126im_/http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/water/images/water91.gif)
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The size of the water
molecule, however, belies the complexity of its actions and its
unique capabilities and anomalous properties seem to fit ideally
into the requirements for life as can no other molecule.
A number of explanations
of the complex behavior of liquid water have been published, many
quite recently. In this site, I have attempted to present these
ideas in a self-consistent manner, which I hope will encourage both
its understanding and further work.
 The
water molecule
 The
structure of the water molecule (water's
molecular orbitals)
Molecular
vibration and absorption of water (water's
vibrational modes)
Hydrogen
bonding in water (the molecular orbitals of
a water dimer and cyclic
pentamer)
The
Phase Diagram of water
 Hexagonal
ice, Cubic ice, Ice-two,
Ice-three, Ice-four, Ice-five,
Ice-six
Ice-seven,
Ice-eight,
Ice-nine, Ice-ten,
Ice-eleven, Ice-twelve, Clathrate-I
ice
Water
ionization (the molecular
orbitals of the H3O+ and OH- ions)
Forty-one
anomalies of water and their explanations
Weird
properties of water
Vapor
pressure-Temperature behavior, Pressure-Temperature-Density
behavior
Volume-Temperature
behavior
Properties
of water and heavy water (changes
with temperature)
Molecular
models of water
Water clustering
in liquid water
Overview
of the structuring in liquid water
Introduction
to water clustering
The
icosahedral (H2O)280 water clusters
The
tetrahedral (H2O)14 water cluster
Water
icosahedral cluster architecture (spherical
coordinates, shell radii/occupancy,
alternatives)
Differences
in icosahedral water structures on puckering
Water
cluster equilibria, puckering and temperature effects (explanation
using animated gifs)
Connectivity
map for the icosahedral water cluster
Supercluster
of 13 icosahedral water clusters (superstrand
of water icosahedral clusters)
Substructural
forms of the icosahedral water cluster
Alternative
clusters
Paper
model
Evidence
for icosahedral water clusters
Conclusions
Hydration
Hydrocolloids
Agar,
Alginate, Arabinoxylan,
Carrageenan, CMC,
Cellulose, Curdlan,
Gelatin
Gellan,
b-Glucan,
Gum arabic, Guar
gum, Locust bean
gum, Pectin,
Starch, Xanthan
gum
Hydrocolloid
rheology
Hydrocolloids
and health
Ions
and the Hofmeister series
H3O+
magic number cluster ion, SO42-
cluster, tetramethylammonium ion clustering,
CO2 cluster
Hydrophobic
hydration
Kosmotropes
and chaotropes
Sugar
hydration
Polysaccharide
hydration (introduction
to polysaccharides, furan pseudorotational
angles)
Protein
hydration and denaturation
Nucleic
acid hydration
Aqueous
biphasic systems
Aqueous
solutions of C60
Magnetic
and electric effects on water
Water
and microwave radiation (background
information, complex dielectric permittivity)
Water
activity
Frequently asked
questions concerning liquid water
How
can hot water freeze quicker than cold water?
Can
water be prevented from freezing by increasing the pressure?
Is
water good for you?
Is
water blue?
Does
water have a memory?
Does
magnetic descaling of water work?
How
can a liquid have a structure?
Does
the radial distribution peak at about 3.7 � exist?
Is
there fine structure in the radial distribution function?
Do
interstitial water molecules exist?
How
is icosahedral clustering related to the outer structure two-state
mixture model?
Water-related
material
Homeopathy,
including a working hypothesis of the
dilution effect.
Declustered
water, anomalous water and polywater
Novel
fulleranes
Platonic
solids and water
References
1 - 100, 101 - 200,
201 - 300, 301 - 400,
401 - 500, 501 - 600,
601 �
Visitor's
Book (post your news
and views)
Site
news
Water
related links (plus animated
cursor)
Notes.
Some interactive pages use Chemical Objects for the Web (*.cow)
or Chime (*.pdb) files. The Chime interactive models allow retrieval
of the x, y, z coordinates. The (COW) HyperChem
Web Viewer (2 MB) for Windows Internet Explorer (ActiveX) and
Netscape (plug-in) are available free from Hypercube,
Inc. The free Chime
plug-in (2 MB) is available for Netscape for Windows and Macintosh.
At present, Netscape is the preferred browser for the plug-ins and
Internet Explorer for the ActiveX controls.
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