Pilot Aquaphotomic Study of the Effects of Audible Sound on Water Molecular Structure

Abstract

Sound affects the medium it propagates through and studies on biological systems have shown various properties arising from this phenomenon. As a compressible media and a “collective mirror”, water is influenced by all internal and external influences, changing its molecular structure accordingly. The water molecular structure and its changes can be observed as a whole by measuring its electromagnetic (EMG) spectrum. Using near-infrared spectroscopy and aquaphotomics, this pilot study aimed to better describe and understand the sound-water interaction. Results on purified and mineral waters reported similar effects from the applied 432 Hz and 440 Hz frequency sound, where significant reduction in spectral variations and increased stability in water were shown after the sound perturbation. In general, the sound rearranged the initial water molecular conformations, changing the samples’ properties by increasing strongly bound, ice-like water and decreasing small water clusters and solvation shells. Even though there was only 8 Hz difference in applied sound frequencies, the change of absorbance at water absorbance bands was specific for each frequency and also water-type-dependent. This also means that sound could be effectively used as a perturbation tool together with spectroscopy to identify the type of bio, or aqueous, samples being tested, as well as to identify and even change water functionality.

Aquaphotomics Investigation of Electrolyzed Hydrogen Water: Understanding the Water Molecular Structure and Its Role in Scavenging Reactive Oxygen Species

“…It has the potential to provide understanding and insights into the molecular mechanisms underpinning the functionality of functional waters. Numerous publications in this field provide the rationale for using aquaphotomics NIRS to connect the specifics of water molecular structure and how it changes under different perturbations, thereby linking the molecular structure with the exhibited functionality [37,[40][41][42][43][44][45][46]. Moreover, numerous studies highlight the intricate and active role played by the molecular structure of water in various aspects, including antioxidant activity, radical scavenging, and the prevention of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation [47][48][49][50][51][52].…”

Aquaphotomics—Exploring Water Molecular Systems in Nature

“…Out of the 21 published articles, 3 were reviews [ 2 , 3 , 4 ] and 18 were original research papers [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ], that can be roughly separated into 6 categories ( Figure 3 ).…”

“…The majority of the articles, approximately one third, belongs to the field of applications in agriculture and food science [ 8 , 9 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 21 , 22 ], a field from which aquaphotomics originated, and probably the reason why this category is still at the forefront of aquaphotomics development. Following this category are the preprocessing and chemometrics [ 2 , 4 , 15 , 18 ] and fundamental studies [ 5 , 6 , 10 , 17 ]. The former category reflects an important issue that aquaphotomics is trying to resolve, namely, the necessity of developing appropriate tools for dealing with the spectra of highly aqueous samples, and that significant efforts are being invested in resolving the issues of extracting the information from very subtle spectral signals.…”

“…Another interesting aspect of the original research articles is the measurement methods the researchers employed ( Figure 4 ). Contrary to expectations that this would be the major portion, only four of the original research papers reported results obtained by using near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy in the area of the first overtone of water (1300–1600 nm) [ 5 , 6 , 19 , 22 ].…”

“…When it comes to studies that reveal some fundamental new insights, the work by Stoilov et al [ 6 ] stands out, reporting for the first time that the frequency of applied sound perturbation results in distinctive changes in water’s molecular structure, that was captured in a water absorbance spectral pattern. The team which investigated two types of water concluded that perturbation by sound produces a measurable impact on water’s molecular structure which depends on the nature of the water samples used, as well as the frequency at which at the sound is tuned to.…”