Editing Polywater (section)

==Background==
In 1961, the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] physicist Nikolai Fedyakin, working at the Technological Institute of [[Kostroma]], [[Russia]], performed measurements on the properties of water which had been [[condensation|condensed]] in, or repeatedly forced through, narrow quartz [[capillary action|capillary tubes]]. Some of these experiments resulted in what was seemingly a new form of water with a [[boiling-point elevation|higher boiling point]], [[freezing-point depression|lower freezing point]], and much higher [[viscosity]] than ordinary water – about that of a [[syrup]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Федякин (Fedyakin) |first1=Н.Н. (N.N.) |title=Изменение структуры воды при конденсации в капиллярах |journal=Коллоидный Журнал (Kolloidnyi Zhurnal, Colloid Journal) |date=1962 |volume=24 |pages=497–501 |trans-title=Changes in the structure of water during condensation in capillaries. |language=Russian}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Giaimo|first=Cara|date=21 September 2015|title=Polywater, the Soviet Scientific Secret That Made the World Gulp|url=http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/polywater-the-soviet-scientific-secret-that-made-the-world-gulp|access-date=1 May 2021|website=Atlas Obscura}}</ref>

[[Boris Derjaguin]], director of the laboratory for surface physics at the Institute for Physical Chemistry in [[Moscow]], heard about Fedyakin's experiments. He improved on the method to produce the new water, and though he still produced very small quantities of this mysterious material, he did so substantially faster than Fedyakin did. Investigations of the material properties showed a substantially lower freezing point of −40&nbsp;°C or less, a boiling point of 150&nbsp;°C or greater, a density of approx. 1.1 to 1.2&nbsp;g/cm<sup>3</sup>, and increased expansion with increasing temperature. The results were published in Soviet science journals,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Deryagin |first1=B. V. |last2=Fedyakin |first2=N. N. |title=Special properties and viscosity of liquids condensed in capillaries |journal=Proceedings of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR Physics Chemistry |date=1962 |volume=147 |issue=2 |pages=808–811}}</ref> and short summaries were published in ''Chemical Abstracts'' in English, but Western scientists took no notice of the work.

In 1966, Derjaguin travelled to England for the "Discussions of the [[Faraday Society]]" in [[Nottingham]]. There, he presented the work again, and this time English scientists took note of what he referred to as ''anomalous water''. English scientists then started researching the effect as well, and by 1968 it was also under study in the United States.

By 1969, the concept had spread to [[newspapers]] and [[magazines]].<ref name="unnatural">{{cite news|date=December 19, 1969|title=Unnatural Water|work=[[Time magazine]]|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,941747,00.html|url-status=dead|access-date=24 December 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091227111703/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,941747,00.html|archive-date=27 December 2009}}</ref><ref name=poly/> There was fear{{Failed verification |date= April 2013}} by the [[United States military]] that there was a so-called "polywater gap" with the [[Soviet Union]], a popular media term indicating a possible capability "gap", or discrepancy, between the US and the USSR, popularized by media hype of the "[[bomber gap]]" and the "[[missile gap]]", during periods when the USSR appeared to be outstripping the US in numbers of these various weapons.<ref>{{cite news |title= U.S. Begins Efforts To Exceed the USSR In Polywater Science. Pentagon Picks Firm to Study Water-Like Fluid That Boils At 400, Was Isolated in 1961 |url= https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/djreprints/access/103777668.html?dids=103777668:103777668&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Jun+30,+1969&author=&pub=Wall+Street+Journal&desc=U.S.+Begins+Efforts+To+Exceed+the+USSR+In+Polywater+Science&pqatl=google |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120127093144/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/djreprints/access/103777668.html?dids=103777668:103777668&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Jun+30,+1969&author=&pub=Wall+Street+Journal&desc=U.S.+Begins+Efforts+To+Exceed+the+USSR+In+Polywater+Science&pqatl=google |url-status= dead |archive-date= January 27, 2012 |newspaper= [[The Wall Street Journal]] |date= June 30, 1969 |access-date= 2010-12-24}}</ref>

A scientific furore followed. Some experiments carried out were able to reproduce Derjaguin's findings, while others failed. Several theories were advanced to explain the phenomenon. Some proposed it was the cause for increasing resistance on [[Transatlantic communications cable|trans-Atlantic phone cables]], while others predicted that if polywater were to contact ordinary water, it would convert that water into polywater, echoing the doomsday scenario in [[Kurt Vonnegut]]'s novel ''[[Cat's Cradle]]''. By the 1970s, polywater was well known in the general population.<ref name="PopSci">{{cite news |last= Christian |first= P. A. |author2= Berka, L. H. |title= How You Can Grow Your Own Polywater |work= Popular Science |date= June 1973 |pages= 105–107 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ZsYZa8MYtTsC&q=How+You+Can+Grow+Your+Own+Polywater&pg=PA105}}</ref>

During this time, several people questioned the authenticity of what had come to be known in the West as polywater. The main concern was contamination of the water, but the papers went to great lengths to note the care taken to avoid this. [[Denis Rousseau]] and [[Sérgio Pereira da Silva Porto|Sergio Porto]] of [[Bell Labs]] carried out infrared spectrum analysis, which showed polywater to be mostly chlorine and sodium.<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Rousseau |first1= Denis L. |last2= Porto |first2= Sergio P. S. |date= March 27, 1970 |title= Polywater: Polymer or Artifact? |journal= Science |volume= 167 |issue= 3926 |pages= 1715–1719 |doi= 10.1126/science.167.3926.1715 |pmid= 17729617 |access-date= August 13, 2011 |url= https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.167.3926.1715?sid=8b4eadf1-7198-4b31-b0fe-e0b27d28b8cf |bibcode= 1970Sci...167.1715R|s2cid= 37067352 }}</ref>

[[Denis Rousseau]] undertook an experiment with his own [[perspiration|sweat]] after playing a [[American handball|handball]] game at the lab and found it had identical properties. He then published a paper suggesting polywater was nothing more than water with small amounts of biological impurities.<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Rousseau |first1= Denis L. |date= January 15, 1971 |title= "Polywater" and Sweat: Similarities between the Infrared Spectra |journal= Science |volume= 171 |issue= 3967 |pages= 170–172 |doi= 10.1126/science.171.3967.170 |pmid= 5538826 |access-date= August 13, 2011 |url= https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.171.3967.170?sid=68de19c4-686a-45e9-84bd-ed9cd65f9196 |bibcode= 1971Sci...171..170R|s2cid= 46032654 }}</ref>

Another wave of research followed, this time more tightly controlled. Invariably, polywater could no longer be made. Chemical analysis found the samples of polywater to be contaminated with other substances (explaining the changes in melting and boiling points due to [[colligative properties]]), and examination of polywater by [[electron microscope|electron microscopy]] showed it also contained small particles of various solids – from silica to [[phospholipid]]s, explaining its greater viscosity.

When the experiments which had initially produced polywater were repeated with thoroughly cleaned [[laboratory glassware|glassware]], the anomalous properties of the resulting water vanished, and even the scientists who had originally advanced the case for polywater agreed it did not exist.

In August 1973, Derjaguin and N. V. Churaev published a letter in the journal ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' in which they wrote; "these [anomalous] properties should be attributed to impurities rather than to the existence of polymeric water molecules".<ref>{{cite book |last= Franks |first= Felix |title= Polywater |date= 1981 |publisher= The MIT Press |isbn= 0-262-06073-6 |page= 140}}</ref>

[[Denis Rousseau]] used polywater as a classic example of [[pathological science]] and has since written on other examples as well.<ref>{{cite journal |author= Rousseau, Denis L. |title= Case Studies in Pathological Science |journal= [[American Scientist]] |date= January–February 1992 |volume= 80 |issue= 1 |pages= 54–63 |bibcode= 1992AmSci..80...54R|author-link= Denis Rousseau }}</ref>

It has been suggested that polywater should have been dismissed on theoretical grounds. The laws of thermodynamics predicted that, since polywater had a higher boiling point than ordinary water, it meant it was more stable, and thus all of Earth's water should have turned spontaneously into polywater, instead of just part of it.<ref name="bauer" /> [[Richard Feynman]] remarked that if such a material existed, then an animal would exist that would ingest water and excrete polywater, using the energy released from the process to survive.<ref name="bauer">{{cite journal |journal= [[Hyle: International Journal for Philosophy of Chemistry]] |title= 'Pathological Science' is not Scientific Misconduct (nor is it pathological) |author= Henry H. Bauer |volume= 8 |issue= 1 |pages= 5–20 |url= http://www.hyle.org/journal/issues/8-1/bauer.htm|author-link= Henry H. Bauer }} The above paper cites this review from Eisenberg: {{cite journal |doi= 10.1126/science.213.4512.1104 |title= A Scientific Gold Rush. (Book Reviews: Polywater) |author= David Eisenberg |journal= [[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume= 213 |issue= 4512 |pages= 1104–1105 |date= September 1981 |bibcode= 1981Sci...213.1104F |pmid= 17741096|author-link= David Eisenberg }}</ref>