Water has new molecular properties: Scientists
New York, Aug 14 : US scientists have predicted a fundamental asymmetry in the mechanism of water, which had previously gone unnoticed.
For nearly a century, it was thought that the mechanisms by which water transports the H+ and OH ions were mirror images of each other -- identical in all ways except for directions of the hydrogen bonds involved in the process.
Water consists of one oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms, but the hydrogen atoms are relatively mobile and can hop from one molecule to another, and it is this hopping that renders the two ionic species so mobile in water.
Prior research had indicated that two main geometrical arrangements of hydrogen bonds (one associated with each ion) facilitate the hops.
But the study found that one of the arrangements led to significantly slower hops for OH than for H+ at four degrees Celsius.
"The new finding is quite surprising and may enable deeper understanding of water's properties as well as its role as a fluid in many of nature's phenomena," said lead author Alexej Jerschow, Professor at the New York University (NYU).
If this asymmetry predicted is correct, it could be exploited in different applications by tailoring a system to favour one ion over the other, the researchers said.
In the study, detailed in the journal Physical Review Letters, the team involved cooling water down to its so-called temperature of maximum density, where the asymmetry is expected to be most strongly manifest, thereby allowing it to be carefully detected.
By cooling water down to this temperature, the team employed nuclear magnetic resonance methods (the same type of approach is medically in magnetic resonance imaging) to show that the difference in lifetimes of the two ions reaches a maximum value (the greater the lifetime, the slower the transport).
By accentuating the difference in lifetimes, the asymmetry became clear.
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PM Modi wants to take away reservation, says Rahul Gandhi at Telangana rally
Hyderabad (PTI): Mounting his attack on the BJP, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was against reservations and wanted to take away quotas from the people.
Addressing an election rally at Nirmal under Adilabad (ST) Lok Sabha constituency in Telangana, he claimed that the ongoing general elections is taking place between two ideologies in which Congress is trying to safeguard the Constitution, while the BJP-RSS combine wants to end it and people's rights.
"Narendra Modi ji is against reservation. He wants to take away reservations from you. The biggest issue before the country is increasing reservation from 50 per cent," he added.
The Congress has in its manifesto promised that if the party forms the government at the Centre, it will breach the 50 per cent limit and increase the quotas beyond 50 per cent, he said.
BJP leaders also want reservations to end, he claimed.
Alleging that Modi privatised the public sector, Gandhi said the contract system implemented by the BJP-led government amounts to removing reservations.
"We will remove contract systems in government offices and the public sector. Permanent jobs would be available, not temporary jobs," he said.
"Narendra Modi has never said in his speeches till today that he will remove the 50 per cent barrier of reservations," Gandhi said.
He claimed that BJP leaders have told the countrymen that if their party wins elections, they will change and finish the Constitution.
"If the Constitution is finished, reservation will end," he said.
The BJP wants backward classes, dalits, adivasis remain backward, he alleged.
PM Modi waived off loans to the tune of Rs 16 lakh crore of about 22-25 people. "Rs 16 lakh crore means MNREGA money of 24 years, Narendra Modi ji gave to 22 people," he claimed.
The 22 rich people have money equivalent to what 70 crore Indians have. "The Congress is going to change this," he said.
Observing that the Congress government in Telangana implements poll promises like free travel for women in state-run buses, Gandhi said his party, if it comes to power at the Centre, would implement similar 'guarantees' across the country.
He said a list of poor families in the country would be taken up and Rs one lakh per annum would be deposited in the bank account of a woman from every family.
Noting that more than 90 per cent of the population comprises backward classes, adivasis, minorities and the poor in the general category, the Congress leader said they don't have a place in any organisation in the country.
The caste census proposed by the Congress would change the politics of the country because such poor and 90 per cent of people would come to know about their population and share, he said.
"We will make a survey of every organisation in the country. We will find out how much money the backward classes, dalits, adivasis and the poor have. After the caste census, there will be new politics in Telangana and in the country," he said.
The Constitution should be safeguarded and reservations should be increased, Gandhi said.
The incumbent government of the rich should be dislodged from power and the government of the poor, farmers, dalits and others should be installed, he added.
