Re: [compost_tea] RE: Water

From: David Anderson <squtch_at_gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2004 14:07:17 -0800
That makes a lot of sense, but brings up all sorts of questions, most
of which get to be highly off topic.

The majority of heavy water molecules are actually DHO, not D20. it is
something like 1/6760 DHO and 1/45,000,000 D2O.

Right now, the rain falling outside my window was snow about 700
vertical feet ago. Should that not have the same levels of DHO and D2O
as the snow?  Or does it fall as liquid heavy water in separate drops,
or connected by surface tension to flow away later.

I wonder it the results are the same on fresh snow and on snow that
has been sitting on the ground for a while,  possibly going through
some light thaws.

Does the D2O form into snow at an even lower percentage than the DHO?
If this is the case, which has the most impact on the growth of the
plants?

A little googling shows that heavy water freezes at around 4C, so it
can't be that it is melted out first in some sort of distillation
process.

But it also shows that it boils at a higer temperature, and that many
areasx of the ocean get higer than average concentrations of heavy
water because of this.

I sure would like to see the results of tesing on fresh rainwater and
fresh snow to see what the difference is.

Okay, here is an interesting bit whan talking about ice cores:

"Q: So, how do the isotopes that make up water molecules in ice differ?

A: Most of the time that oxygen atom in a water molecule is oxygen-16,
and the two hydrogen atoms are hydrogen-1. Other combinations of
oxygen and hydrogen isotopes create heavy water, which acts the same
chemically as ordinary water. But, the tiny extra weight of heavy
water means it's a little slower to evaporate from the oceans, but
some does evaporate. When water vapor begins condensing, the heavy
water is the first to join the water droplets or ice crystals that
fall as rain or snow. As the air becomes colder, it has less and less
heavy water in its water vapor. "

It sounds like it might make a difference where you are that you are
collecting your snow or rain. If your winter stom came across the
continent, you almost certainly have better snow than we have here on
the west coast.

Dave

On Fri, 10 Dec 2004 11:17:56 -0900, Jeff Lowenfels <jeff_at_gardener.com> wrote:
>
> Well, let me throw some snow on the water.....might this make a great
> experiment for making compost tea...snow water...
>
> SNOW WATER
>
>   Experiments carried out in the Siberian Botanical Garden  showed that
> cucumbers and radishes, watered with melted snow,  grew twice as fast
> as the control plants watered with ordinary  water. Similar results
> occurred in experiments with wheat.
>
> Why is melted snow  better for plants than ordinary water? Snow
> contains about 40  percent less heavy water or deuterium oxide than
> normal water.  Deuterium (symbol of D) is a heavy isotope a form of
> hydrogen,  but slightly different. When combined with oxygen it does
> not  form the water molecule, H2O; instead the molecule D2O is  formed.
> Normally, about one water molecule in every 6,000 is found to be a
> heavy water molecule. But somehow the formation  of snow removes many
> of these heavy water molecules.
>
> Scientists have  discovered that D2O slows down some chemical and
> biological processes. So, when heavy water molecules are removed,
> plants  seem to grow faster.
> Plant a Row in your garden to feed the hungry. Join Plant A Row for the
> Hungry. Ask me how. www.gwaa.org/Par/index.html

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Received on Fri Dec 10 2004 - 19:07:22 EST

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