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The Fourth Phase of Water
World renowned scientist, Dr. Gerald Pollack, takes us on a fantastic voyage through water, showing us a hidden universe teeming with physical activity— providing simple explanations for common everyday phenomena, which you have inevitably seen but not really understood.
For instance, have you ever wondered…
How do clouds made up of dense water droplets manage to float in the sky?
Why don’t your joints squeak as they rub together?
Why do you sink in dry sand, but not in wet sand?
How does capillary action manage to raise water up a 100 foot tree?
Why does warm water freeze quicker than cool water?
Pollack uses a recent and fundamental scientific finding— EZ water—to help explain these and many other head-scratchers.
When touching most surfaces, water transforms itself into so-called EZ (Exclusion Zone) water, also known as structured water or fourth phase water. EZ water, whose formula is H3O2, differs dramatically from H2O. And, there is a lot of it, everywhere.
For instance, have you ever wondered…
How do clouds made up of dense water droplets manage to float in the sky?
Why don’t your joints squeak as they rub together?
Why do you sink in dry sand, but not in wet sand?
How does capillary action manage to raise water up a 100 foot tree?
Why does warm water freeze quicker than cool water?
Pollack uses a recent and fundamental scientific finding— EZ water—to help explain these and many other head-scratchers.
When touching most surfaces, water transforms itself into so-called EZ (Exclusion Zone) water, also known as structured water or fourth phase water. EZ water, whose formula is H3O2, differs dramatically from H2O. And, there is a lot of it, everywhere.
358 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2013
308 people are currently reading
1751 people want to read
About the author
Gerald H. Pollack
19 books84 followersProfessor Gerald Pollack is Founding Editor-in-Chief of the scientific journal, WATER and is recognized as an international leader in science and engineering.
The University of Washington Faculty chose Pollack, in 2008, to receive their highest annual distinction: the Faculty Lecturer Award. He was the 2012 recipient of the coveted Prigogine Medal for thermodynamics of dissipative systems. He has received an honorary doctorate from Ural State University in Ekaterinburg, Russia, and was more recently named an Honorary Professor of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Foreign Member of the Srpska Academy. Pollack is a Founding Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering and a Fellow of both the American Heart Association and the Biomedical Engineering Society. He recently received an NIH Director’s Transformative R01 Award for his work on water, and maintains an active laboratory in Seattle.
Pollack’s interests have ranged broadly, from biological motion and cell biology to the interaction of biological surfaces with aqueous solutions. His 1990 book, Muscles and Molecules Uncovering the Principles of Biological Motion, won an “Excellence Award” from the Society for Technical Communication; two subsequent books: Cells Gels and the Engines of Life,and The Fourth Phase of Water both won that Society’s “Distinguished Award.”
Pollack is recognized worldwide as a dynamic speaker and a scientist willing to challenge any long-held dogma that does not fit the facts.
The University of Washington Faculty chose Pollack, in 2008, to receive their highest annual distinction: the Faculty Lecturer Award. He was the 2012 recipient of the coveted Prigogine Medal for thermodynamics of dissipative systems. He has received an honorary doctorate from Ural State University in Ekaterinburg, Russia, and was more recently named an Honorary Professor of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Foreign Member of the Srpska Academy. Pollack is a Founding Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering and a Fellow of both the American Heart Association and the Biomedical Engineering Society. He recently received an NIH Director’s Transformative R01 Award for his work on water, and maintains an active laboratory in Seattle.
Pollack’s interests have ranged broadly, from biological motion and cell biology to the interaction of biological surfaces with aqueous solutions. His 1990 book, Muscles and Molecules Uncovering the Principles of Biological Motion, won an “Excellence Award” from the Society for Technical Communication; two subsequent books: Cells Gels and the Engines of Life,and The Fourth Phase of Water both won that Society’s “Distinguished Award.”
Pollack is recognized worldwide as a dynamic speaker and a scientist willing to challenge any long-held dogma that does not fit the facts.
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December 4, 2013
Scientific discovery in the modern age seems to require more and more resources to find less and less. To illustrate this, consider the lowly Higgs boson.
The existence of the Higgs boson stands precariously at the end of an unfathomably complicated and expensive set up, which culminated in an astoundingly long inferential chain. To find it, first was needed about 10,000 collaborating scientists and a $9 billion collider. Then, once the particles to be annihilated were put into motion, a network of over a hundred computing centers distributed among dozens of countries around the globe were tasked with sifting through petabytes of data, looking for wisps and whispers, hints that the boson was lurking amidst it all, a needle found not in a haystack, but an ocean.
And for that, what do we get? So far, confirmation that what was already theorized to be true seems to be true. Thank goodness.
I've belabored that point in order to make another. That is, Gerald Pollack's recent book The Fourth Phase of Water stands in very welcome and stark contrast to that bosony kind of science. Indeed, if the boson confirmed for us what was already thought, Pollack has presented to us facts and ideas that we never woulda thunk.
Most elegantly, he does this with an experimental simplicity that recalls Galileo's revolution ushered in by dropping balls from a height. Pollack's book is laden with experimental results, for sure, and I've imagined what his equipment request might have looked like were it all funded by a grant:
1 bowl of miso soup (preferably hot)
1 cup of water, (room temperature is best)
A package of dye
An infrared camera
A section of Nafion tubing (about 6 inches should be sufficient)
And so on. Like MacGyver assembling a fully working combustion engine out of a lightbulb, some tape and a thermos, Pollack and his cohorts build fascinating experiments of stunning simplicity, revealing to us that everyday water has: a unique architecture; that it absorbs, stores, transmits and even transmutes energy; that it spontaneously establishes flow that drives sap up trees and blood through capillaries; and that even its most anomalous features are perhaps not anomalous at all.
On top of it all, Pollack has written a thoroughly accessible and enjoyable book to read. The reader easily gets a sense of Pollack's fascination in discovering what he has discovered, and it's fun to go out on limbs with him as he speculates beyond the available data to what might also be revealed with more experimentation. The illustrations throughout the book, done by Gerald's son Ethan Pollack, are a perfect balance between cartoonish whimsy and, well, technically accuracy.
My biggest frustration with the book is that he is apparently going to do what he says he will do, namely, put the information that relates to biology and medicine in a separate book to come later. Oy! I can only hope that it will be out within the next few days.
There are many sets of experiments in science that should have ushered in a revolution in their respective fields. Big money and big egos are not the friends of novel ideas in science. I would like to think that Pollack's book will ring in a new era of understanding about water, and a frenzy of scientists around the globe will be thrilled by the idea of breaking this ground. The implications are enormous, not only for chemistry and physics, but certainly for biology and medicine, and even for green energy production. My suspicion, though, is that the reigning model of water as a mostly passive medium for suspending solutes will lumber on, fueled by decades of status quo inertia.
I have a personal policy of only reading compelling books. That said, The Fourth Phase of Water is certainly the most fascinating, provocative and (for the clinician in me) even the most clinically relevant and important book that I have read in a few years. I highly recommend it to anyone who happens to be awed by seeing the everyday in an entirely new way.
The existence of the Higgs boson stands precariously at the end of an unfathomably complicated and expensive set up, which culminated in an astoundingly long inferential chain. To find it, first was needed about 10,000 collaborating scientists and a $9 billion collider. Then, once the particles to be annihilated were put into motion, a network of over a hundred computing centers distributed among dozens of countries around the globe were tasked with sifting through petabytes of data, looking for wisps and whispers, hints that the boson was lurking amidst it all, a needle found not in a haystack, but an ocean.
And for that, what do we get? So far, confirmation that what was already theorized to be true seems to be true. Thank goodness.
I've belabored that point in order to make another. That is, Gerald Pollack's recent book The Fourth Phase of Water stands in very welcome and stark contrast to that bosony kind of science. Indeed, if the boson confirmed for us what was already thought, Pollack has presented to us facts and ideas that we never woulda thunk.
Most elegantly, he does this with an experimental simplicity that recalls Galileo's revolution ushered in by dropping balls from a height. Pollack's book is laden with experimental results, for sure, and I've imagined what his equipment request might have looked like were it all funded by a grant:
1 bowl of miso soup (preferably hot)
1 cup of water, (room temperature is best)
A package of dye
An infrared camera
A section of Nafion tubing (about 6 inches should be sufficient)
And so on. Like MacGyver assembling a fully working combustion engine out of a lightbulb, some tape and a thermos, Pollack and his cohorts build fascinating experiments of stunning simplicity, revealing to us that everyday water has: a unique architecture; that it absorbs, stores, transmits and even transmutes energy; that it spontaneously establishes flow that drives sap up trees and blood through capillaries; and that even its most anomalous features are perhaps not anomalous at all.
On top of it all, Pollack has written a thoroughly accessible and enjoyable book to read. The reader easily gets a sense of Pollack's fascination in discovering what he has discovered, and it's fun to go out on limbs with him as he speculates beyond the available data to what might also be revealed with more experimentation. The illustrations throughout the book, done by Gerald's son Ethan Pollack, are a perfect balance between cartoonish whimsy and, well, technically accuracy.
My biggest frustration with the book is that he is apparently going to do what he says he will do, namely, put the information that relates to biology and medicine in a separate book to come later. Oy! I can only hope that it will be out within the next few days.
There are many sets of experiments in science that should have ushered in a revolution in their respective fields. Big money and big egos are not the friends of novel ideas in science. I would like to think that Pollack's book will ring in a new era of understanding about water, and a frenzy of scientists around the globe will be thrilled by the idea of breaking this ground. The implications are enormous, not only for chemistry and physics, but certainly for biology and medicine, and even for green energy production. My suspicion, though, is that the reigning model of water as a mostly passive medium for suspending solutes will lumber on, fueled by decades of status quo inertia.
I have a personal policy of only reading compelling books. That said, The Fourth Phase of Water is certainly the most fascinating, provocative and (for the clinician in me) even the most clinically relevant and important book that I have read in a few years. I highly recommend it to anyone who happens to be awed by seeing the everyday in an entirely new way.
June 17, 2018
My 5-star rating here is based more on the content than the quality of read. This is basically a textbook. But that's a good thing when you're trying to convey some unique and newly discovered properties for water.
I will weigh in on the title's sensational claim to having discovered a new state of water beyond the solid/liquid/vapor states.
I believe that they have only identified some unique properties to the structure and motion of liquid water.
That said, what they have discovered is monumental in the understanding of fluid dynamics.
It disrupts a lot of current presumptions that have never adequately explained the most curious anomalies and capabilities of water.
I would have never thought before reading this book that modern science would be so poorly informed or disinterested in understanding the fundamentals of the most important building block of everything that we consider to be alive in our world!
This book marks the cognizant beginning of the field of earth sciences.
I will weigh in on the title's sensational claim to having discovered a new state of water beyond the solid/liquid/vapor states.
I believe that they have only identified some unique properties to the structure and motion of liquid water.
That said, what they have discovered is monumental in the understanding of fluid dynamics.
It disrupts a lot of current presumptions that have never adequately explained the most curious anomalies and capabilities of water.
I would have never thought before reading this book that modern science would be so poorly informed or disinterested in understanding the fundamentals of the most important building block of everything that we consider to be alive in our world!
This book marks the cognizant beginning of the field of earth sciences.
August 6, 2023
Water is one of the most common and essential substances on Earth, yet it remains a mystery to many of us. We think we know water as a simple molecule that can exist in three phases: solid, liquid, and vapor. But what if there is more to water than meets the eye? What if water has a fourth phase that is vital for life and nature?
This is the intriguing premise of the book “The Fourth Phase Of Water” by Gerald H Pollack, a professor of bioengineering at the University of Washington. In this book, Pollack reveals his discovery of a new type of water that he calls Exclusion Zone (EZ) water, or structured water, or simply H3O2. This water is different from ordinary H2O in its molecular structure, electrical charge, optical properties, and behavior. It forms near hydrophilic (water-loving) surfaces, such as cell membranes, proteins, and minerals, and excludes almost everything else, hence the name. It also absorbs energy from sunlight and infrared radiation, and uses it to build and maintain its order.
Pollack explains how this fourth phase of water is ubiquitous in nature and in our bodies, and how it affects many phenomena that we observe every day, such as cloud formation, weather patterns, plant growth, blood circulation, cellular function, health and disease, and more. He also explores the implications of this discovery for science, technology, medicine, and society. He challenges some of the conventional wisdom and dogmas in these fields, and proposes new ways of understanding and harnessing the power of water.
The book is written in a clear and engaging style, with many illustrations and examples that make it accessible to a general audience. Pollack also shares his personal journey of scientific discovery, his struggles with skepticism and criticism, and his passion for uncovering the secrets of nature. He invites the readers to join him in his quest for knowledge and wonder, and to appreciate the beauty and complexity of water.
The book is not only informative but also inspiring. It shows how curiosity and creativity can lead to breakthroughs that can change our view of the world and ourselves. It also reminds us of the importance of water for life and well-being, and the need to protect and conserve this precious resource.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning more about water, or who wants to expand their horizons and challenge their assumptions. It is a fascinating and eye-opening read that will make you think differently about water and its role in nature and life.
Further reading at: https://fully-human.org/wp-content/up...
This is the intriguing premise of the book “The Fourth Phase Of Water” by Gerald H Pollack, a professor of bioengineering at the University of Washington. In this book, Pollack reveals his discovery of a new type of water that he calls Exclusion Zone (EZ) water, or structured water, or simply H3O2. This water is different from ordinary H2O in its molecular structure, electrical charge, optical properties, and behavior. It forms near hydrophilic (water-loving) surfaces, such as cell membranes, proteins, and minerals, and excludes almost everything else, hence the name. It also absorbs energy from sunlight and infrared radiation, and uses it to build and maintain its order.
Pollack explains how this fourth phase of water is ubiquitous in nature and in our bodies, and how it affects many phenomena that we observe every day, such as cloud formation, weather patterns, plant growth, blood circulation, cellular function, health and disease, and more. He also explores the implications of this discovery for science, technology, medicine, and society. He challenges some of the conventional wisdom and dogmas in these fields, and proposes new ways of understanding and harnessing the power of water.
The book is written in a clear and engaging style, with many illustrations and examples that make it accessible to a general audience. Pollack also shares his personal journey of scientific discovery, his struggles with skepticism and criticism, and his passion for uncovering the secrets of nature. He invites the readers to join him in his quest for knowledge and wonder, and to appreciate the beauty and complexity of water.
The book is not only informative but also inspiring. It shows how curiosity and creativity can lead to breakthroughs that can change our view of the world and ourselves. It also reminds us of the importance of water for life and well-being, and the need to protect and conserve this precious resource.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning more about water, or who wants to expand their horizons and challenge their assumptions. It is a fascinating and eye-opening read that will make you think differently about water and its role in nature and life.
Further reading at: https://fully-human.org/wp-content/up...
July 24, 2025
4,5 stars; this was absolutely fascinating, initially thinking this was a hoax, or a parody (Poe's law there for you) or satire; I was elated to find some actual truth to the author's claims; not all that robustly buttressed by the most rigourous of scientific methods (hence the 0,5 star deduction) but nonetheless, there seems to be a kind of in-between solid and liquid form of water; a spontaneous self-organizing of water molecules on particular surfaces forming a structure (the EZ or exclusion zone) that has some actual meaningful and measurable properties of its own; how about that next time you fill the bathtub or drink a glass of water? In addition the persistence of the author in pursuing his claims with scientific integrity, and occasional unwarranted over-enthusiasm comes over as endearing and sympathetic; highly recommended reading/listening (excellent explanatory .pdf comes with audible format).
February 8, 2016
This is a wonderful book. On the surface, it seems that such a commonplace thing as water might not be very interesting. But the chemical/electrical properties of ordinary water molecules turn out to be tremendously rich and surprising. Pollack presents this subject with unbridled enthusiasm and passion for discovery. The explanations of the process of ice formation, and of the "water battery", are worth the price of admission by themselves. You will never look at water the same way again. But more than that, this book is an invitation to science. It implicitly gives you the idea that you don't need to become highly specialized in order to be a scientist. You can just take something as ordinary as water, ask some fundamental questions about it, perform experiments, and see what you discover.
December 22, 2019
Well-written and engaging, the narrative of laboratory work and the author’s hypothesis about structured EZ water makes the early part of the book easy to follow and interesting.
Unfortunately, the non-expert (for whom this book is written) won’t be able to judge the value of his claims based on his purported laboratory results where they sound reasonable. By the end of part 1, I hope even that reader notices that the claims become physically implausible- such as the rate of chemical reactions being affected by a lunar eclipse for several days afterwards.
In the end, this is another book by a contrarian wanting to show up scientific consensus with his revolutionary and fantastical discoveries. It does, however, pique my curiosity about our understanding of the real physics of water.
Unfortunately, the non-expert (for whom this book is written) won’t be able to judge the value of his claims based on his purported laboratory results where they sound reasonable. By the end of part 1, I hope even that reader notices that the claims become physically implausible- such as the rate of chemical reactions being affected by a lunar eclipse for several days afterwards.
In the end, this is another book by a contrarian wanting to show up scientific consensus with his revolutionary and fantastical discoveries. It does, however, pique my curiosity about our understanding of the real physics of water.
February 11, 2023
In retrospect, a lot of the experimental findings here probably hold up pretty well, but the theoretical reasoning is mostly pretty bad. See here for a critical view that I'm sympathetic to: https://arxiv.org/abs/1909.06822.
May 24, 2023
The scientific aspects of water may seem rather underestimated today. Gerald H. Pollack deals with water's fourth phase by taking us on a scientific journey into the molecular world of water, where we get to discover things about water that have not been very well known. In other words, we become familiar with the fourth phase of water, also called the EZ phase, or the EZ structure, which the author introduces as a solution to the many mysteries of water. He goes a bit against the conventional understanding of how water works in different situations, but he also seems to give a better and more logical answer, as I can see as layperson, precisely by integrating the EZ structure which can be observed with microscopes.
The author claims at the beginning that this is a book that laymen can understand well. I partially agree. For me, the book was a balancing act between understanding what I read and not understanding everything equally well. Some were more technically explained than other things, but fortunately you can understand much of the content if you just keep your tongue straight in your mouth and read carefully. Something I had to read slowly and several times, but the book gives interesting answers to unanswered questions and what role the EZ structure plays in the many situations of the water. We get, among other things, insight into why the coffee steam behaves the way it does, why the tongue gets stuck when you lean it against a cold lamppost, why the ice is slippery, how the ice freezes, that the freezing process also contains heat, etc. In all this, we notice the magic of the EZ structure role and how water also has interesting electrical properties where the electrical charges play a significant role. We get, among other things, answer how two like poles can actually be attracted to each other in water.
This is a technical book, but at the same time the author manages quite well to balance what he writes so that a layman somehow can be able to understand, at least some of the content of the book. There are still some details that are difficult to understand and fully understand, and formulations that do not always make as much sense, but the interesting things in the book are quite interesting and worth getting along with.
The author claims at the beginning that this is a book that laymen can understand well. I partially agree. For me, the book was a balancing act between understanding what I read and not understanding everything equally well. Some were more technically explained than other things, but fortunately you can understand much of the content if you just keep your tongue straight in your mouth and read carefully. Something I had to read slowly and several times, but the book gives interesting answers to unanswered questions and what role the EZ structure plays in the many situations of the water. We get, among other things, insight into why the coffee steam behaves the way it does, why the tongue gets stuck when you lean it against a cold lamppost, why the ice is slippery, how the ice freezes, that the freezing process also contains heat, etc. In all this, we notice the magic of the EZ structure role and how water also has interesting electrical properties where the electrical charges play a significant role. We get, among other things, answer how two like poles can actually be attracted to each other in water.
This is a technical book, but at the same time the author manages quite well to balance what he writes so that a layman somehow can be able to understand, at least some of the content of the book. There are still some details that are difficult to understand and fully understand, and formulations that do not always make as much sense, but the interesting things in the book are quite interesting and worth getting along with.
December 13, 2024
This is not a book that you sit down and read from beginning to end. After all, it is a scientific textbook. I take one star off because it isn't exactly an easy read in certain chapters, but the author does make these concepts as presentable as possible with pictures, summaries, and examples. However, if you come in with some basic scientific knowledge, you can move your way through this book and develop a deepened understanding of one of life's most beautiful substances: water. This is a book that I will enjoy referring back as Pollack really does bring a revolutionary approach to understanding water. I believe ancient medicine systems already knew much of the facts and wisdom he presents here; although, they would not have explained it in western scientific terms. Nevertheless, the implications we can draw from the importance of EZ-structured-coherent water for energy, water resourcing, restoration of the earth, disease, and health are vast and limitless. By reading this book, you will find yourself simply enthralled and in awe of God's incredible design of this marvelous substance we call water.
November 23, 2023
Excellent reflections on the process of science in the Preface.
The author talks of his findings in examining the nature of water, but also discusses how these findings may relate to real world observations of the behavior of water. He notes that some of the ideas are speculative, even using an "out-on-a-limb" meter to characterize them.
"We don’t yet understand water molecules’ interaction with other water molecules — water’s “social” behavior."
Chapter 1
The author presents a number of examples of water behavior that lack easy explanation, the point being that there is more going on than is understood by current physics.
Chapter 2
Two successive debacles have turned a once-dynamic field into a treacherous domain into which few scientists have the temerity to enter. In the late 1960s, Russian scientists proposed that a fourth phase of water existed. In 1988, Jacques Benveniste proposed that water had a memory. Neither claim was substantiated, and both were written off as bad science.
On the one side, mainstream scientists employ computer simulations and technologically sophisticated approaches to learn more about water molecules and their immediate neighbors. On the other side are the scientists who explore the more provocative phenomena.
Chapter 3
The author and colleagues showed that an exclusion zone (EZ) exists next to solids which particles in the water avoid. It is much larger (100,000 times) than the layers (Debye length) predicted by the double layer theory in bedrock concepts of surface chemistry. The EZ forms next to hydrophilic or water loving surfaces, but not next to hydrophobic surfaces. The EZ excludes almost anything suspended or dissolved in the water.
Testing showed that EZ water is more viscous and more stable than bulk water; its molecular motions are more restricted; its light-absorption spectra differ in the UV-visible light range, as well as in the infrared range; and it has a higher refractive index. This led Pollack to conclude that the water was ordered in some way.
Chapter 4
Researchers have identified water hexamers next to diverse surfaces, including metals, protein subunits, graphene, and quartz. The water next to many surfaces is evidently hexagonal.
The authors proposed model is a honeycomb sheet with a hydrogen-to-oxygen ratio of 3:2. Successive sheets are shifted halfway along the struts where electrical attractions exceed repulsions. Stacking can see shifts in any direction - a helical structure can even result.
Pouring water onto a hydrophilic surface triggers EZ growth. Water is the raw material. From this raw material, EZ honeycomb layers build. Those EZ layers can slide past one another if sufficient shearing force is applied; but ordinarily the planes stick to one another, creating what is seen macroscopically as the EZ
In practice, EZs are not regular: they may lack oxygen atoms and hydrogen atoms at positions that reflect the nucleating surface’s charge distribution, and they may suffer erosion.
The author believes that the EZ qualifies as a phase as it is unique and spatially bounded.
Chapter 5
As the EZ separate charges, they effectively constitute a battery. Application of a low voltage to an anode and cathode in water results in a current flow over tens of minutes that results in structured matrices on both sides. Current can then be drawn from the electrodes with up to a 70 percent recovery rate. One pole is the negative EZ while the positive side is made up of positive hydronium ions. The water battery will slowly run down as opposite charges trickle back together.
Chapter 6
The energy needed to make the EZ comes from light. Infrared is the most effective part of the spectrum, although all frequencies contribute. As IR is almost everywhere in the natural world, it is a "free" source.
The absorbed radiant energy that drives the entire process does not directly split the proton from the water. That radiant energy may merely loosen the bulk water structure, freeing individual water molecules to build. The act of latching onto the lattice then releases the water molecule’s dangling proton into the bulk water, where it tends to form a hydronium ion.
The EZ size depends upon the balance between energy-dependent growth and the natural tendency to decay. The lattice retracts when hydronium ions invade lattice openings and extract EZ units to yield water.
Disruptions to the decay process, such as a lack of hydronium, can result in the formation of free radicals, also known as reactive oxygen species (ROS). The most common one, the superoxide radical, comprises two oxygen atoms with a single negative charge. In nature, these are toxic and cells contain a scavenging enzyme called superoxide dismutase (SOD) to neutralize emerging superoxide radicals almost as rapidly as they form.
The deep sea supports much life even though oxygen and light for photosynthesis are apparently unavailable. The mechanism of EZ formation may explain this as the presence of IR may drive charge separation allowing creatures to gain oxygen and energy.
Chapter 7
Giorgio Piccardi studied the time required to complete chemical reactions, finding that it varied significantly. Those involving water consistently varied by the time of the year and in accordance with sunspots and solar flares. Piccardi concluded that the only plausible explanation was that the radiant energy absorbed by the water must have played a role in these reactions.
has a role in the first phase of photosynthesis, and may even assist the circulation of blood in the
Water continuously absorbs radiant energy from the environment. Energy is released in the form of light, work to rearrange solutions, mechanical work and Brownian motion. Pollack suspects that the EZ body.
Water acts as a transducer or energy converter, absorbing one kind of energy and converting it into other kinds.
Chapter 8
Particles of the same polarity attract each other, due to charges of the opposite polarity between them. The EZ around the particles is the major reason for the attraction. The attraction tends to move the particles together until the repulsion of the particle charge equals the attraction due to the EZ charge distribution. The author calls this the "like-likes-like mechanism".
This mechanism causes the regular spacing of suspended particles. The regular spacing of water droplets in clouds is required for the production of rainbows. This attraction is also responsible for the binding of sand in sandcastles.
Chapter 9
Einstein's theory of Brownian motion does not explain three scenarios - the intensification when salt is added, the synchronization of particles as concentration increases, and diminished particle excursions with increasing light intensity.
Brownian motion may be a natural reflection of water’s continuous absorption of electromagnetic energy - incident radiant energy drives Brownian motions. The absorbed energy builds EZ's around the particles and thereby separates charge. The separated charges generate forces that drive particle movements. This model explains many of the inconsistencies seen in the past.
Chapter 10
Water both radiates and absorbs significant amounts of infrared energy because of the water molecule’s atomic structure. EZ buildup generates protons, whose movements generate plenty of IR, which we sense as heat. Once the EZ stops building, charges become fixed and the EZ appears cooler than the adjacent bulk water. The author avoids the concept of temperature, concentrating on charge movement instead.
As EZ's can built from charged surfaces, Pollack sees a mechanism whereby the water could be imprinted with such information and be able to pass it on. Nobelist Luc Montagnier have lent credence to this kind of information transmission whereby DNA structure was passed between two adjacent flasks.
Water swirled to create a vortex cools. The author attributes this to a reduction in the EZ content, liberating energy and increasing the volume.
Chapter 11
Osmosis is not the elementary force of nature that the classical Brownian motion formulation presumes. Salt (and other solutes/particles) build negative EZs around them, thereby attracting positive hydronium ions. That electrical gradient drives the osmotic flow. Osmosis is a process secondary to the absorption of incident radiant energy. That energy separates charge, which drives the flow.
Chapter 12
EZ buildup creates colossal numbers of protons which latch on to water molecules, the charged particles then being driven by electrostatics. These charged molecules are responsible for reducing friction, wedging surfaces apart, making ice slippery, running batteries, driving catalysis, and powering fluid flows.
Chapter 13
Droplets and bubbles resemble one another. Both entities are characteristically spherical and transparent; and both can exist above or below the water’s surface. The author showed that droplets possess an EZ shell. and that EZ membranes surround bubble.
Chapter 14
Vesicle EZs zipper together, creating flat boundaries between spheres. A flat boundary of that sort should easily give way, leading to the formation of a single larger vesicle with thickened walls. The thickened walls make the new vesicle more robust. Durability increases with each successive merger, improving the odds that the larger vesicle will survive long enough to produce even larger vesicles. This iterative process fosters vesicle growth.
At some stage, the vesicles’ liquid interiors may turn to vapor. This happens if the vesicle captures enough incident radiant energy. That energy increases the number of hydronium ions inside the vesicle, which raises internal pressure. If the pressure grows sufficiently, then the shell may give way, leading to vesicle expansion. When that happens, any contained water molecules would experience an abruptly lowered pressure, prompting their conversion into vapor. Vapor-filled vesicles rising to the surface can lead to boiling.
Chapter 15
Vesicles (a generic term meaning either a droplet or a bubble) self assemble in water. They do so by means of the like-likes-like mechanism, forming extensively networked structures. These structures resemble mosaics when viewed from above; however, the mosaics are actually tubes, extending deep into the water. With sufficient absorption of radiant energy, the tubes may acquire enough negative charge to escape the water individually or collectively. The rising structures, seen as puffs of vapor, emerge one after another from the surface. Those emerging puffs are the essential elements of evaporation.
Even coarse bug screens impede air flow more than would be expected. Pollack speculates that nitrogen and oxygen form stoichiometric complexes, or gas clathrates. These would increase the apparent viscosity of the air when flowing. He further speculates that the linkages are throughout the atmosphere, resulting in the surprisingly constant ratio of N to O of 3.727 seen virtually everywhere. They would also result in atmospheric conductivity and friction, perhaps explaining why the atmosphere stays anchored to the earth.
Chapter 16
EZ-containing structures line the water surface. These subsurface structures consist mainly of aggregated vesicles, and possibly also standard EZ material, self-organized into mosaic-like arrays. These arrays may project down from the surface by millimeters or centimeters in laboratory vessels. In open waters with ample incident radiation, discontinuities in temperature, salinity and oxygen content suggest that these arrays may penetrate tens, or even hundreds, of meters. Those tubular mosaic structures create interfacial tension.
When such arrays are disturbed, it takes time for them to re-form. This is why ships leave long trails of calm water that take some time to disappear.
The details of capillary action have never been well understood with standard explanations suggesting that the water "sticks" to the vessel walls. It appears that EZ's form in narrow tubes, producing two driving forces: an electrostatic force from above exerts an upward pull, while an electrostatic force from below exerts an upward push. Examination of tree xylem shows the high pH and particle travel at the center that would be associated with EZ formation.
Chapter 17
The transition from water to ice requires an EZ intermediate. As the water cools, EZs build. Meanwhile, hydronium ions accumulate just beyond. When the hydronium ion concentration reaches a critical level, protons break free and invade the negative EZ. Those protons link adjacent EZ planes, initiating the structural transition to ice. As the process continues, the ice grows.
This process resolves the conundrum that converting water to the more ordered form of ice should require energy, while it is known that generally the transition of water to ice should release the latent heat of fusion. Ice formation does require energy; it exploits the potential energy of charge separation which is delivered as the positive proton charges combine with the negative EZ to build crystalline ice.
The proposed model envisions ice formation as a two-stage process: first, protons flood the EZ, generating an infrared flash; second, those protons properly insert themselves between EZ planes, shifting the planes and pushing them apart to create ice. The IR emission corresponds to the release of the latent heat of fusion.
The Mpemba effect is that warm water will freeze faster than cold water. The proposed explanation is that warm water contains abundant amounts of the two ingredients needed for freezing: EZ-shelled vesicles and their associated protons.
Chapter 18
In the concluding chapter, Pollack expresses reservations about the current state of science.
"Scientists content themselves with short-term gains in narrowly focused areas rather than seeking fundamental truths that may explain broad areas of nature."
"Science today focuses mainly on the twigs of the tree of knowledge, attempting to add incremental detail. It assumes that supporting limbs are robust."
The author talks of his findings in examining the nature of water, but also discusses how these findings may relate to real world observations of the behavior of water. He notes that some of the ideas are speculative, even using an "out-on-a-limb" meter to characterize them.
"We don’t yet understand water molecules’ interaction with other water molecules — water’s “social” behavior."
Chapter 1
The author presents a number of examples of water behavior that lack easy explanation, the point being that there is more going on than is understood by current physics.
Chapter 2
Two successive debacles have turned a once-dynamic field into a treacherous domain into which few scientists have the temerity to enter. In the late 1960s, Russian scientists proposed that a fourth phase of water existed. In 1988, Jacques Benveniste proposed that water had a memory. Neither claim was substantiated, and both were written off as bad science.
On the one side, mainstream scientists employ computer simulations and technologically sophisticated approaches to learn more about water molecules and their immediate neighbors. On the other side are the scientists who explore the more provocative phenomena.
Chapter 3
The author and colleagues showed that an exclusion zone (EZ) exists next to solids which particles in the water avoid. It is much larger (100,000 times) than the layers (Debye length) predicted by the double layer theory in bedrock concepts of surface chemistry. The EZ forms next to hydrophilic or water loving surfaces, but not next to hydrophobic surfaces. The EZ excludes almost anything suspended or dissolved in the water.
Testing showed that EZ water is more viscous and more stable than bulk water; its molecular motions are more restricted; its light-absorption spectra differ in the UV-visible light range, as well as in the infrared range; and it has a higher refractive index. This led Pollack to conclude that the water was ordered in some way.
Chapter 4
Researchers have identified water hexamers next to diverse surfaces, including metals, protein subunits, graphene, and quartz. The water next to many surfaces is evidently hexagonal.
The authors proposed model is a honeycomb sheet with a hydrogen-to-oxygen ratio of 3:2. Successive sheets are shifted halfway along the struts where electrical attractions exceed repulsions. Stacking can see shifts in any direction - a helical structure can even result.
Pouring water onto a hydrophilic surface triggers EZ growth. Water is the raw material. From this raw material, EZ honeycomb layers build. Those EZ layers can slide past one another if sufficient shearing force is applied; but ordinarily the planes stick to one another, creating what is seen macroscopically as the EZ
In practice, EZs are not regular: they may lack oxygen atoms and hydrogen atoms at positions that reflect the nucleating surface’s charge distribution, and they may suffer erosion.
The author believes that the EZ qualifies as a phase as it is unique and spatially bounded.
Chapter 5
As the EZ separate charges, they effectively constitute a battery. Application of a low voltage to an anode and cathode in water results in a current flow over tens of minutes that results in structured matrices on both sides. Current can then be drawn from the electrodes with up to a 70 percent recovery rate. One pole is the negative EZ while the positive side is made up of positive hydronium ions. The water battery will slowly run down as opposite charges trickle back together.
Chapter 6
The energy needed to make the EZ comes from light. Infrared is the most effective part of the spectrum, although all frequencies contribute. As IR is almost everywhere in the natural world, it is a "free" source.
The absorbed radiant energy that drives the entire process does not directly split the proton from the water. That radiant energy may merely loosen the bulk water structure, freeing individual water molecules to build. The act of latching onto the lattice then releases the water molecule’s dangling proton into the bulk water, where it tends to form a hydronium ion.
The EZ size depends upon the balance between energy-dependent growth and the natural tendency to decay. The lattice retracts when hydronium ions invade lattice openings and extract EZ units to yield water.
Disruptions to the decay process, such as a lack of hydronium, can result in the formation of free radicals, also known as reactive oxygen species (ROS). The most common one, the superoxide radical, comprises two oxygen atoms with a single negative charge. In nature, these are toxic and cells contain a scavenging enzyme called superoxide dismutase (SOD) to neutralize emerging superoxide radicals almost as rapidly as they form.
The deep sea supports much life even though oxygen and light for photosynthesis are apparently unavailable. The mechanism of EZ formation may explain this as the presence of IR may drive charge separation allowing creatures to gain oxygen and energy.
Chapter 7
Giorgio Piccardi studied the time required to complete chemical reactions, finding that it varied significantly. Those involving water consistently varied by the time of the year and in accordance with sunspots and solar flares. Piccardi concluded that the only plausible explanation was that the radiant energy absorbed by the water must have played a role in these reactions.
has a role in the first phase of photosynthesis, and may even assist the circulation of blood in the
Water continuously absorbs radiant energy from the environment. Energy is released in the form of light, work to rearrange solutions, mechanical work and Brownian motion. Pollack suspects that the EZ body.
Water acts as a transducer or energy converter, absorbing one kind of energy and converting it into other kinds.
Chapter 8
Particles of the same polarity attract each other, due to charges of the opposite polarity between them. The EZ around the particles is the major reason for the attraction. The attraction tends to move the particles together until the repulsion of the particle charge equals the attraction due to the EZ charge distribution. The author calls this the "like-likes-like mechanism".
This mechanism causes the regular spacing of suspended particles. The regular spacing of water droplets in clouds is required for the production of rainbows. This attraction is also responsible for the binding of sand in sandcastles.
Chapter 9
Einstein's theory of Brownian motion does not explain three scenarios - the intensification when salt is added, the synchronization of particles as concentration increases, and diminished particle excursions with increasing light intensity.
Brownian motion may be a natural reflection of water’s continuous absorption of electromagnetic energy - incident radiant energy drives Brownian motions. The absorbed energy builds EZ's around the particles and thereby separates charge. The separated charges generate forces that drive particle movements. This model explains many of the inconsistencies seen in the past.
Chapter 10
Water both radiates and absorbs significant amounts of infrared energy because of the water molecule’s atomic structure. EZ buildup generates protons, whose movements generate plenty of IR, which we sense as heat. Once the EZ stops building, charges become fixed and the EZ appears cooler than the adjacent bulk water. The author avoids the concept of temperature, concentrating on charge movement instead.
As EZ's can built from charged surfaces, Pollack sees a mechanism whereby the water could be imprinted with such information and be able to pass it on. Nobelist Luc Montagnier have lent credence to this kind of information transmission whereby DNA structure was passed between two adjacent flasks.
Water swirled to create a vortex cools. The author attributes this to a reduction in the EZ content, liberating energy and increasing the volume.
Chapter 11
Osmosis is not the elementary force of nature that the classical Brownian motion formulation presumes. Salt (and other solutes/particles) build negative EZs around them, thereby attracting positive hydronium ions. That electrical gradient drives the osmotic flow. Osmosis is a process secondary to the absorption of incident radiant energy. That energy separates charge, which drives the flow.
Chapter 12
EZ buildup creates colossal numbers of protons which latch on to water molecules, the charged particles then being driven by electrostatics. These charged molecules are responsible for reducing friction, wedging surfaces apart, making ice slippery, running batteries, driving catalysis, and powering fluid flows.
Chapter 13
Droplets and bubbles resemble one another. Both entities are characteristically spherical and transparent; and both can exist above or below the water’s surface. The author showed that droplets possess an EZ shell. and that EZ membranes surround bubble.
Chapter 14
Vesicle EZs zipper together, creating flat boundaries between spheres. A flat boundary of that sort should easily give way, leading to the formation of a single larger vesicle with thickened walls. The thickened walls make the new vesicle more robust. Durability increases with each successive merger, improving the odds that the larger vesicle will survive long enough to produce even larger vesicles. This iterative process fosters vesicle growth.
At some stage, the vesicles’ liquid interiors may turn to vapor. This happens if the vesicle captures enough incident radiant energy. That energy increases the number of hydronium ions inside the vesicle, which raises internal pressure. If the pressure grows sufficiently, then the shell may give way, leading to vesicle expansion. When that happens, any contained water molecules would experience an abruptly lowered pressure, prompting their conversion into vapor. Vapor-filled vesicles rising to the surface can lead to boiling.
Chapter 15
Vesicles (a generic term meaning either a droplet or a bubble) self assemble in water. They do so by means of the like-likes-like mechanism, forming extensively networked structures. These structures resemble mosaics when viewed from above; however, the mosaics are actually tubes, extending deep into the water. With sufficient absorption of radiant energy, the tubes may acquire enough negative charge to escape the water individually or collectively. The rising structures, seen as puffs of vapor, emerge one after another from the surface. Those emerging puffs are the essential elements of evaporation.
Even coarse bug screens impede air flow more than would be expected. Pollack speculates that nitrogen and oxygen form stoichiometric complexes, or gas clathrates. These would increase the apparent viscosity of the air when flowing. He further speculates that the linkages are throughout the atmosphere, resulting in the surprisingly constant ratio of N to O of 3.727 seen virtually everywhere. They would also result in atmospheric conductivity and friction, perhaps explaining why the atmosphere stays anchored to the earth.
Chapter 16
EZ-containing structures line the water surface. These subsurface structures consist mainly of aggregated vesicles, and possibly also standard EZ material, self-organized into mosaic-like arrays. These arrays may project down from the surface by millimeters or centimeters in laboratory vessels. In open waters with ample incident radiation, discontinuities in temperature, salinity and oxygen content suggest that these arrays may penetrate tens, or even hundreds, of meters. Those tubular mosaic structures create interfacial tension.
When such arrays are disturbed, it takes time for them to re-form. This is why ships leave long trails of calm water that take some time to disappear.
The details of capillary action have never been well understood with standard explanations suggesting that the water "sticks" to the vessel walls. It appears that EZ's form in narrow tubes, producing two driving forces: an electrostatic force from above exerts an upward pull, while an electrostatic force from below exerts an upward push. Examination of tree xylem shows the high pH and particle travel at the center that would be associated with EZ formation.
Chapter 17
The transition from water to ice requires an EZ intermediate. As the water cools, EZs build. Meanwhile, hydronium ions accumulate just beyond. When the hydronium ion concentration reaches a critical level, protons break free and invade the negative EZ. Those protons link adjacent EZ planes, initiating the structural transition to ice. As the process continues, the ice grows.
This process resolves the conundrum that converting water to the more ordered form of ice should require energy, while it is known that generally the transition of water to ice should release the latent heat of fusion. Ice formation does require energy; it exploits the potential energy of charge separation which is delivered as the positive proton charges combine with the negative EZ to build crystalline ice.
The proposed model envisions ice formation as a two-stage process: first, protons flood the EZ, generating an infrared flash; second, those protons properly insert themselves between EZ planes, shifting the planes and pushing them apart to create ice. The IR emission corresponds to the release of the latent heat of fusion.
The Mpemba effect is that warm water will freeze faster than cold water. The proposed explanation is that warm water contains abundant amounts of the two ingredients needed for freezing: EZ-shelled vesicles and their associated protons.
Chapter 18
In the concluding chapter, Pollack expresses reservations about the current state of science.
"Scientists content themselves with short-term gains in narrowly focused areas rather than seeking fundamental truths that may explain broad areas of nature."
"Science today focuses mainly on the twigs of the tree of knowledge, attempting to add incremental detail. It assumes that supporting limbs are robust."
January 18, 2023
.
-
Sayer Ji in Regenerate put Gerald H. Pollack as a reference in (mostly) chapter 3.
https://youtu.be/nTngSAG28J4 3:07 from publisher's page very recommended
https://www.ebnerandsons.com/ publisher
http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0161... 84 p. preview
https://link.springer.com/search?quer... author link.springer.com
https://archive.org/details/fourthpha... archive.org borrow and unpaginated download .
https://www.pollacklab.org/_files/ugd... author cv 10 p.
https://www.pollacklab.org/ lab
https://ivscience.org/resources/links...
below is not yet - uncorrected!
References
To return to the reference location in text, click the reference number.
part i
Chapter 1
1. Osada Y, and Gong J (1993): Stimuli-responsive polymer gels and their
application to chemomechanical systems. Prog. Polym. Sci., 18, 187–226.
2. Ovchinnikova K, and Pollack GH (2009): Cylindrical phase separation in
colloidal suspensions. Phys. Rev. E. 79(3), 036117.
3. Klyuzhin IS, Ienna F, Roeder B, Wexler A and Pollack GH (2010):
Persisting water droplets on water surfaces J. Phys. Chem. B 114, 14020–
14027.
w1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhBn1o...
w2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDun7I...
w3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY1eyL...
References
To return to the reference location in text, click the reference number.
Chapter 1
1. Osada Y, and Gong J (1993): Stimuli-responsive polymer gels and their
application to chemomechanical systems. Prog. Polym. Sci., 18, 187–226.
2. Ovchinnikova K, and Pollack GH (2009): Cylindrical phase separation in
colloidal suspensions. Phys. Rev. E. 79(3), 036117.
3. Klyuzhin IS, Ienna F, Roeder B, Wexler A and Pollack GH (2010):
Persisting water droplets on water surfaces J. Phys. Chem. B 114, 14020–
14027.
w1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhBn1o...
w2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDun7I...
w3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY1eyL...
Chapter 2
1. Ball, Philip (1999): H2O: A Biography of Water. Weidenfeld & Nicholson.
2. Ball P. (2008): Water as an Active Constituent in Cell Biology Chem. Rev.
108, 74−108.
3. Roy R, Tiller WA, Bell I, Hoover MR (2005): The Structure of Liquid
Water: Novel Insights From Materials Research; Potential Relevance to
Homeopathy. Materials Research Innovations Online 577-608.
4. Schiff, Michel (1995): The Memory of Water, Thorsens.
5. Walach H, Jonas WB, Ives J, Van Wijk R, Weingartner O, (2005):
Research on Homeopathy: State of the Art. J. Alt. and Comp Med. 11(5) 813-
829.
6. Montagnier L, Aissa J, Del Giudice E, Lavallee C, Tedeschi A and Vitiello
G (2011): DNA waves and water. J. Phys: Conf. Series vol. 306 (on line).
w1. http://www1.lsbu.ac.uk/water/
chapter 4
w1 http://www.aip.org/enews/physnews/200...
chapter 7
w1.
w2.
chapter 11
w1.<?a>
w2.
chapter 12
w1.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCOL8k...
chapter 13
w1.
chapter 14
chapter 15
w1.
w2. --
w3.
chapter 16
chapter 17
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
w1.
w2.
w3.
w4.
part v
chapter 18
1. CGEL
2.
-
.
-
Sayer Ji in Regenerate put Gerald H. Pollack as a reference in (mostly) chapter 3.
https://youtu.be/nTngSAG28J4 3:07 from publisher's page very recommended
https://www.ebnerandsons.com/ publisher
http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0161... 84 p. preview
https://link.springer.com/search?quer... author link.springer.com
https://archive.org/details/fourthpha... archive.org borrow and unpaginated download .
https://www.pollacklab.org/_files/ugd... author cv 10 p.
https://www.pollacklab.org/ lab
https://ivscience.org/resources/links...
below is not yet - uncorrected!
References
To return to the reference location in text, click the reference number.
part i
Chapter 1
1. Osada Y, and Gong J (1993): Stimuli-responsive polymer gels and their
application to chemomechanical systems. Prog. Polym. Sci., 18, 187–226.
2. Ovchinnikova K, and Pollack GH (2009): Cylindrical phase separation in
colloidal suspensions. Phys. Rev. E. 79(3), 036117.
3. Klyuzhin IS, Ienna F, Roeder B, Wexler A and Pollack GH (2010):
Persisting water droplets on water surfaces J. Phys. Chem. B 114, 14020–
14027.
w1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhBn1o...
w2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDun7I...
w3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY1eyL...
References
To return to the reference location in text, click the reference number.
Chapter 1
1. Osada Y, and Gong J (1993): Stimuli-responsive polymer gels and their
application to chemomechanical systems. Prog. Polym. Sci., 18, 187–226.
2. Ovchinnikova K, and Pollack GH (2009): Cylindrical phase separation in
colloidal suspensions. Phys. Rev. E. 79(3), 036117.
3. Klyuzhin IS, Ienna F, Roeder B, Wexler A and Pollack GH (2010):
Persisting water droplets on water surfaces J. Phys. Chem. B 114, 14020–
14027.
w1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhBn1o...
w2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDun7I...
w3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY1eyL...
Chapter 2
1. Ball, Philip (1999): H2O: A Biography of Water. Weidenfeld & Nicholson.
2. Ball P. (2008): Water as an Active Constituent in Cell Biology Chem. Rev.
108, 74−108.
3. Roy R, Tiller WA, Bell I, Hoover MR (2005): The Structure of Liquid
Water: Novel Insights From Materials Research; Potential Relevance to
Homeopathy. Materials Research Innovations Online 577-608.
4. Schiff, Michel (1995): The Memory of Water, Thorsens.
5. Walach H, Jonas WB, Ives J, Van Wijk R, Weingartner O, (2005):
Research on Homeopathy: State of the Art. J. Alt. and Comp Med. 11(5) 813-
829.
6. Montagnier L, Aissa J, Del Giudice E, Lavallee C, Tedeschi A and Vitiello
G (2011): DNA waves and water. J. Phys: Conf. Series vol. 306 (on line).
w1. http://www1.lsbu.ac.uk/water/
chapter 4
w1 http://www.aip.org/enews/physnews/200...
chapter 7
w1.
w2.
chapter 11
w1.<?a>
w2.
chapter 12
w1.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCOL8k...
chapter 13
w1.
chapter 14
chapter 15
w1.
w2. --
w3.
chapter 16
chapter 17
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
w1.
w2.
w3.
w4.
part v
chapter 18
1. CGEL
2.
-
.
September 21, 2025
I study homeopathy, so of course I believe that water can hold energetic memory. … But do you know how some people can take really dense scientific information and turn it into a palatable story for the masses? This was not the case. I found the middle of the book to be quite a slog.
You could pretty much read the first couple chapters and the last chapter and save yourself the time.
I’m gonna say 3.5 stars to give the author credit, but maybe save the research for peer reviewed papers, and figure out a better way to tell the story.
You could pretty much read the first couple chapters and the last chapter and save yourself the time.
I’m gonna say 3.5 stars to give the author credit, but maybe save the research for peer reviewed papers, and figure out a better way to tell the story.
May 18, 2025
Back in the summer of 2011 I first heard an eminent chemist say "We do not understand water". This book was being written unbeknownst, and it proposes many insight into what it could take to push forward our understanding and appreciation of water. The study of water has been neglected because of supposed frauds and paradoxically by its fundamental role itself - how can we not know already everything about such fundamental building block of life? Water is not a passive bystander, rather it is an active medium which stores energy and organizes accordingly, and the way in which this seems to happen is rather simple, according to the mechanisms elucidated by the author, and very far reaching. The book is written in a very plain and explicitly didactic way to embrace the widest curious audience, amply illustrated, logically and consequently built, and supported by a long list of references including videos. At the core is the evidence of the liquid crystalline phase that water forms at the interface with hydrophilic surfaces, which excludes solutes (hence originally called "exclusion zone") and separates charge. Hence it can store radiant energy, particularly the infra-red radiation which is ubiquitous, and use this stored potential energy for a myriad of applications. Several open questions seem to be answered, as well as multiple apparent anomalies. Finally the author writes that he had spared many more reflections and physics and biology for two further publications, which will be very much appreciated.
October 3, 2022
Revolutionary understanding of water basics. Water has an ordered phase between solid and liquid with similar viscosity to egg whites involving electrical charge and explaining so many behaviors of water that have always seemed contradictory. One tiny take-away that I found surprising was that this phase of water is what keeps boats afloat and when it is disrupted by underwater bubbles from fissures in the earth's crust, for example, like, potentially in the Bermuda triangle, boats seemingly inexplicably sink. But also water can holds charge and can be used to make batteries, and this phase of water is what powers photosynthesis and so much or our bodies' cellular functions.
Want to read
July 24, 2020I am only a couple chapters in but already Gerald Pollack is my new technical writing mentor. I have never felt compelled to write a review for a book I had barely started, but I am just so excited. His writing is so clear, so succinct, so precise, and yet somehow also human and entertaining??? Gerald has proved to me that such a feat was possible. I am excited to learn from his writing style and implement it in my own technical papers.
October 29, 2023
As a chemist I found this book to be a hard to read conglomerate of pseudo science, speculation and over stretching of the minute evidence there is for his claims. Surface/boundary layer chemistry can be interesting and weird but there is no mysterious "fourth phase" to be found there in any meaningful sense.
February 23, 2024
Lots of speculation that gives good ideas for water experiments. It really is necessary to start accumulating data on it by oneself: just look at the "is water h2o" type confusion surrounding this book's admittedly hypothetical claims, something which is also an interesting to read about further: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1....
December 11, 2015
This took me forever to finish. I had to look so much stuff up to understand what the author was talking about! Fascinating and well written. Couldn't put it down.
August 19, 2019
This is a science book for non scientists. It looks at firmly held beliefs and goes right on to challenge them. I will never look at water the same.
August 12, 2023
Groundbreaking!
I heard of Gerald Pollack in my naturopathic practice about a decade ago, as a scientist who had postulated that water has a "memory," and therefore might be used as an explanation for the mechanism of homeopathy, at least loosely. I didn't know the particulars, and at the time, since he worked for a traditional university, I rather suspected that he would object to that association. It was only recently, when I started studying fluid dynamics within the human body with a strong sense that this was a key somehow to adequate detoxification, that I stumbled upon this book.
The fourth phase of water isn't what I thought it was, at least not precisely. It's called "EZ water," which sounds like easy water, though it stands for Exclusion Zone water--and it seems exceedingly likely to be exactly what Pollack postulates, based upon not only his own experiments, but also its ability to elegantly explain many of water's previously familiar but inexplicable properties. It's so called, because it excludes all solutes that might otherwise be dissolved within "bulk water," or what we think of as normal liquid water. It does this by forming what's almost a gel-like crystalline structure, with charge separations between the EZ and bulk water. Its formation can be triggered by a hydrophilic surface, yet water doesn't need such a surface to form an EZ--it also forms spontaneously within "bulk water," which is the reason for the mosaic-like reflective patterns we see within a body of water. When water evaporates, it does so within the bulk water columns bordered by EZ, which is why steam follows a similar mosaic pattern. EZ also forms just at the point of transition of water to ice as well. Such a surface explains how things float, how "Jesus lizards" and certain insects can run across water's surface, how water ascends to the reach the tops of trees, how the fluid line within a straw rises above the regular water's surface, how one can skate on top of ice (and yet if you lick a frozen flagpole, you're likely to stick), why Brownian motion occurs (he's so bold as to revise Einstein on this), and both how and why water forms both droplets and bubbles. (It never occurred to me to think of this as peculiar before, but it really is peculiar!)
What really blew my mind about all of this is the concept that the EZ, due to its charge separation, is a perpetual potential source of energy--just like a battery. The EZ, and thus the charge separation--spontaneously grows in response to infrared light... and we have a free, ready source of this in the sun. The implications of this, to me, are enormous, and Pollack does allude to this at the end of the book (I'd hoped he'd take it much further, but I guess that's for some engineer to take his concept and build upon it). I'm trying very hard to see how I can work this concept into my next book...
I heard of Gerald Pollack in my naturopathic practice about a decade ago, as a scientist who had postulated that water has a "memory," and therefore might be used as an explanation for the mechanism of homeopathy, at least loosely. I didn't know the particulars, and at the time, since he worked for a traditional university, I rather suspected that he would object to that association. It was only recently, when I started studying fluid dynamics within the human body with a strong sense that this was a key somehow to adequate detoxification, that I stumbled upon this book.
The fourth phase of water isn't what I thought it was, at least not precisely. It's called "EZ water," which sounds like easy water, though it stands for Exclusion Zone water--and it seems exceedingly likely to be exactly what Pollack postulates, based upon not only his own experiments, but also its ability to elegantly explain many of water's previously familiar but inexplicable properties. It's so called, because it excludes all solutes that might otherwise be dissolved within "bulk water," or what we think of as normal liquid water. It does this by forming what's almost a gel-like crystalline structure, with charge separations between the EZ and bulk water. Its formation can be triggered by a hydrophilic surface, yet water doesn't need such a surface to form an EZ--it also forms spontaneously within "bulk water," which is the reason for the mosaic-like reflective patterns we see within a body of water. When water evaporates, it does so within the bulk water columns bordered by EZ, which is why steam follows a similar mosaic pattern. EZ also forms just at the point of transition of water to ice as well. Such a surface explains how things float, how "Jesus lizards" and certain insects can run across water's surface, how water ascends to the reach the tops of trees, how the fluid line within a straw rises above the regular water's surface, how one can skate on top of ice (and yet if you lick a frozen flagpole, you're likely to stick), why Brownian motion occurs (he's so bold as to revise Einstein on this), and both how and why water forms both droplets and bubbles. (It never occurred to me to think of this as peculiar before, but it really is peculiar!)
What really blew my mind about all of this is the concept that the EZ, due to its charge separation, is a perpetual potential source of energy--just like a battery. The EZ, and thus the charge separation--spontaneously grows in response to infrared light... and we have a free, ready source of this in the sun. The implications of this, to me, are enormous, and Pollack does allude to this at the end of the book (I'd hoped he'd take it much further, but I guess that's for some engineer to take his concept and build upon it). I'm trying very hard to see how I can work this concept into my next book...
February 1, 2025
This book is a trip down the rabbit hole with respect to water, a compound that everyone takes for granted, but (according to author Gerald Pollack*) most likely doesn’t understand beyond knowing its molecular composition (H2O) and that such exists in three phases (liquid, gas, solid). Not so fast - there could exist a fourth phase (hence the book title) which is more viscous (almost gel-like) and possesses a negative (-) charge. This type of water is referred to by Dr. Pollack as Exclusion Zone (EZ) water because it shuns certain particles compared to the more ubiquitous “bulk” water. The fact that water may have a charge and that it is energized by the sun (i.e., primarily through infrared waves) could have profound implications: water as a potential energy source, the prospect of seawater desalination, and the use of exclusion properties to mitigate pollution. EZ water is also called “structured water”, a term that alternative medicine proponents (some legitimate, others mountebanks) have used and touted* as being salubrious** for cellular health compared to drinking conventional bulk water. To be clear, this book does not make such outlandish claims and is quite tempered in delivery of its assertions - though some do seem extraordinary (and appropriately denoted with a “Going Out on a Limb” meter).
*Dr. Pollack appears to be a respectable scientist and researcher. His work is widely published in various peer-reviewed journals, his lab research and experiments have legitimate praise and replication, he obtained his Ph.D. in biochemical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, and now teaches the same as a professor at the University of Washington.
*Methods of supposedly transforming bulk water into structured water include exposing it to infrared and sunlight, the use of crystals or magnets, as well as swirling / vortexing it. Dr. Pollack does not appear to have ever offered any direct endorsement of such.
*Dr. Pollack appears to be a respectable scientist and researcher. His work is widely published in various peer-reviewed journals, his lab research and experiments have legitimate praise and replication, he obtained his Ph.D. in biochemical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, and now teaches the same as a professor at the University of Washington.
*Methods of supposedly transforming bulk water into structured water include exposing it to infrared and sunlight, the use of crystals or magnets, as well as swirling / vortexing it. Dr. Pollack does not appear to have ever offered any direct endorsement of such.
June 22, 2020
I enjoy reading science books that are out of the mainstream but clearly not outright quackery. This was one of those. In the same category are Julian Barbour's book, The End of Time, in which he posits that many of the conundrums of physics can be resolved if we assume that there is no such thing as time and that the universe is a multiverse of time-like instances, and Karl Coryat's book, The Simplest Case Scenario, in which he posits that the universe consists only of information. Pollack has better credentials than either of the other two and his theories are backed up by experimentation in ways that the other two are not, but his theories are not generally accepted and are critcized as being in some ways nothing new and in other ways just wrong. See https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/q.... But I admire Pollack for being willing to go out on a limb and for putting a lot of effort into developing and testing a theory that seems to have a lot of explanatory power. I don't know enough chemistry to be able to judge Pollack's theory on its merits, but I like his approach to science -- finding simple but important things that are not fully explained by current theories and finding testable explanations with intuitive appeal.
May 30, 2019
Gerald Pollack has done an outstanding job of carrying out a scientific research program into the foundations of science (water? what do we NOT know about water? Pollack shows we know VERY LITTLE if you simply following conventional literature). Furthermore, his book is very readable: the experiments are described in sufficient detail (and are very down to earth!) that I went and tried several of them to confirm what he wrote about. He raises a very good point: doing research on water is fraught with peril (other academics will attack you not just on your scientific experiments but ad hominem). On the other hand, much of scientific research for the past five decades has been incremental, measuring something to greater precision or doing obvious extensions to earlier work, and little of it deals with foundations of different realms of science (in part because this is difficult, in part because an academic will not gain funding or recognition for such work). Pollack is the poster child for academic tenure: he was free to pursue what he wanted since he had tenure, and he chose to deal with the scientific underpinnings of water, something that makes up 2/3 of human bodies!
November 26, 2021
I was and still am stunned by the methods of water explained by Pollack. I encourage readership, skepticism, and wonderment.
I am interested in trees and plants and ecology. Trees produce electrical potential, in the millivolt range. I asked a lead researcher how trees produce electricity and was advised to read Pollack for the most promising explanation. Otherwise, plant physiologists cannot explain how plants create electricity.
There are many people who object to this outside-of-the-box approach. A mild concern of mine is that I find it incredulous that such significant water behaviors and patterns being described have never been seen before. But I like the water science and see great opportunities in creating common realities.
What I really want to do is understand is if trees use ezwater and if this creates electrical potential and how this effects and is effected by the rest of the world. Not sure I got the eff/aff first syllables correct.
My final random musing is to think about the fourth phase of water on Herbert’s Arrakis. What is melange/spice?
I am interested in trees and plants and ecology. Trees produce electrical potential, in the millivolt range. I asked a lead researcher how trees produce electricity and was advised to read Pollack for the most promising explanation. Otherwise, plant physiologists cannot explain how plants create electricity.
There are many people who object to this outside-of-the-box approach. A mild concern of mine is that I find it incredulous that such significant water behaviors and patterns being described have never been seen before. But I like the water science and see great opportunities in creating common realities.
What I really want to do is understand is if trees use ezwater and if this creates electrical potential and how this effects and is effected by the rest of the world. Not sure I got the eff/aff first syllables correct.
My final random musing is to think about the fourth phase of water on Herbert’s Arrakis. What is melange/spice?
May 5, 2025
I only rated this 3 stars because the lousy 5-star system is too blunt an instrument. This was a good book, and I learned much. But I can't say "I really liked it," as it's in a field waaaay outside my comfort zone. I grabbed it because my best friend read it, and it's not exactly inside his wheelhouse either, so I knew it had to be interesting in some fashion.
And it is. But for a non-scientific type, it mean a lot of rereading and more than a few pauses as I pondered things I haven't thought of since Ms. Jordan's chemistry class back in high school.
Here's the most jaw-dropping thing for myself after this tour of electrons, ions, crystaline lattices, and oh, yes--exclusion zones! : How is it that we're in the 21st century and have paid so little attention to the basic operations and nature of water??? Yes, the author explains how we got to this point, but I'm still stunned by this gap in our knowledge.
And it is. But for a non-scientific type, it mean a lot of rereading and more than a few pauses as I pondered things I haven't thought of since Ms. Jordan's chemistry class back in high school.
Here's the most jaw-dropping thing for myself after this tour of electrons, ions, crystaline lattices, and oh, yes--exclusion zones! : How is it that we're in the 21st century and have paid so little attention to the basic operations and nature of water??? Yes, the author explains how we got to this point, but I'm still stunned by this gap in our knowledge.
September 5, 2019
As someone who doesn't understand science in a lot of ways, this book was still an interesting read. Granted, I did need to research a lot of things in order to understand what was happening, but there were some aspects of this book that were interesting to think about and answered questions that I didn't even know I had. I like that Pollack took the time to make sure that we all truly understand something as foundational and important to our lives as water. While I wouldn't recommend this book to everyone, I would say it's an important read if you care about understanding water or learning the kinds of revolutionary thought that scientists need sometimes to further advance our understanding of the natural world around us.
September 25, 2024
This book explains the latest research done by the author on how water acts. He talked about why research into water has been avoided for a while, some mysteries that still need to be solved, and about the 4th phase of water, which seems to explain some of these mysteries. It's intended for anyone to be able to read and understand, and you can probably follow his points well enough if you've had high school science classes. However, it's really geared toward scientists or those really interested in water. He talked about the water mystery, how they set up the experiments, and their findings that help explain water's behavior. I'd recommend this book, but be ready for a real science-focused book.
May 31, 2023
Our theories about water don't account for some of the behavior we observe. Curious about this, Gerald Pollack—Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Washington—looked into it, made some discoveries, then wrote a book about it. Water is weird, as this book lucidly demonstrates. To understand just how weird spend fifteen minutes watching Pollack's 2013 TEDx presentation ('The Fourth Phase of Water: Dr. Gerald Pollack at TEDxGuelphU' on YouTube) since it provides examples of the physical phenomena in question. Pollack writes well, but the bulk of the book bored me and some chapters were a struggle. I'm not a scientist, but merely a camp follower, so not his intended audience. The take away is this: Pollack has established that a zone of gel-like consistency, dubbed the "exclusion zone", forms in water. This zone holds a negative charge and is created using stored energy within the water molecules, energy imparted by infrared light. Pollack details the serendipitous observations that led to these discoveries, his multiple experiments testing how the exclusion zone behaves, how far it extends, how this behavior is accounted for in classical physics, and how it helps explain heretofore baffling features of water. Science can be exciting to read about, but this book lacks the lovely prose of Dawkins, Feynman, or Sagan. Recommended only to those with an interest in this particular topic.
August 14, 2025
Not dissimilar to historical fiction. Fiction with a little added in questionable history to make it engaging. You will learn that King Henry the 8th liked beheadings and had an unhealthy diet. Maybe a few other things but nothing else of substance. This is because it's written for fun.
The Fourth Phase Of Water...fiction with a little questionable science added in. You won't learn anything. It's not a science text book. It's a wonder story with some vague science in it.
It's not my thing but it is entertaining and easy to read so I give it a neutral 3 stars. I would say, have fun with it if you like light reading of an insubstantial scientific kind.
The Fourth Phase Of Water...fiction with a little questionable science added in. You won't learn anything. It's not a science text book. It's a wonder story with some vague science in it.
It's not my thing but it is entertaining and easy to read so I give it a neutral 3 stars. I would say, have fun with it if you like light reading of an insubstantial scientific kind.
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