Hypography Science Forums: HydrogenBond - Viewing Profile - Hypography Science Forums

I have come to the conclusion this site lacks technically competent people. The creation tabooappears to be the only tool in the shed and is used too often as a technical substitute.

This site has become a mere shadow of what it used to be. I still come here out of a sentimental attachment. I like most of the others who are bored with the incompetence, are sad to see management choses to let the site run down into disrepair. It could be due to laziness, bargain basement staff and the evolutionist trolls.

The sciforum site is far more active with 10 times the people. They still got their share of staff trolls but there are far more competent people.

There is a difference between innate behavior and learned behavior. I believe women can learn anything men can learn via education. But men and women are innately different because they are designed by nature to be complementary, thereby expanding the bandwidth for the male-female team.

All the legislated rules of the workplace, to alter the behavior of males, to conform to the different needs of women, was needed because they are innately different. If they were equal, female would have felt comfortable without any legislation. All the needed PC law and regulation shows how different they are. You did not need as much law when it was just men.

What is unique about male and female is it is one of the only social situations, where you can polarize into opposites, and they will still attract. The complementary nature of male and female creates an energy potential when they are polarized. If you polarize into democrat and republican, black and white. rich and poor, the polarization remains. But male and female can't stay apart.

What I would like to see is an experiment where male and females polarize so each can discover what is innate to male and female. Not based on what males say is natural for male and female, or what females say is natural for female and male, but what male say is natural for male and what female say is natural for female. What we have today is artificial induced through education and strong armed by law.

Getting back on topic, this experiment to polarize the female would tell us what is natural female. From that one could infer easier. The artificial version of today makes it hard to no how to compare cause and effect.

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The topic is water and life, not life using other compound for solvents other than water. What other compounds would work as a solvent for life?. What would be an alternate replicator molecule for each of the other solvents? How can I address something invisible? I am trying to stick to what we know to be real and proven by reality. The alternates are all sizzle and no bacon. If you wish to start another topic I will use my creativity to suggest other solvents but then I will be attacked for speculation.

I will help you indirectly. The things I am discussing about water, like activity, apply to other solvents. Activity in water is a measure of its ability to hydrate things. Water is called the universal solvent because it can interact and hydrate so many things from ions to organics. Alternate solvents, will need to approach the activity level of water. If not the solvent might limit life.

Another consideration for life as we know, is water is one of the initial reactants of life; used in photosynthesis. It is also a terminal product of metabolism. Water, as the solvent is also a critical reactant and product for all the energy needs of life. It is not just a solvent but is also involved in its energy economy. Other solvents would benefit if they could also do this.

During photosynthesis, the other product is O2, which becomes the terminal electron acceptor. This product defines the energy bandwidth of life. If we burn any compound of life, with the O2, we get our solvent back; water. If you used ammonia or alcohol, you can't get as much energy or else you solvent would metabolize all the way to water. Life needs energy and lots of it. Even of we started in other solvents many will become water as the energy needs of life increase and they self digest. Water is as far as life can go. Maybe life could start in other solvents, but all road lead to water.

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Nitric acid is made by combining water with nitric oxide (NOx), so you still use water. The problem with concentrated nitric acid (minimal water) is it is too powerful an oxidizer for organic compounds. It would be hard to make anything that can last or remain polymerized within conc. nitric acid. Take a stainless steel beaker and burn organics like food in it, so it is impossible to clean with normal detergents. Next, add nitric acid and watch how is cuts through even the toughest carbon gunk. The corrosive Nitric acid combined with the toxic potassium hydroxide forms potassium nitrate in water. Now we have a gentle water solvent with food for plants.

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This is partially true. The DNA double helix will not separate; totally dissolve. But the combined double helix will dissolve. You can then add things to the water that will denature the DNA into separate helixes so both can dissolve. This is how water potential can be used to baseline the DNA until enzymes take over the task.

The reason I am approaching life, from the solvent side, instead of the biomaterial side, is because solvents like water are simpler and continuous throughout life. The solvent side offers the possibility of manipulating life in wholesale ways with far less complexity. There are endless variations of organics in life with a wide range of primary and secondary interactions; medicine and side effects. Water is complex in its own right but its options are much more finite and predictable. Theoretically, you should be able to manipulate the solvent to generate equilibrium so wholesale changes can occur. There should also be a sweet spot for the solvent. Instead of thousand of meds, it may only need a handful of adjustments. In this time of expensive medical care, there is a market for a more cost effective alternative.

To achieve that end you need to know all the tricks water can do.

The next thing I would like to discuss are the colligative properties of water. These properties are only dependent on the mole concentration of solute regardless of the structure of the solute. If we had one mole of sodium chloride or half mole of sodium chloride plus half mole of potassium nitrate, the colligative properties are the same, since both have one mole. These properties include boiling point elevation, freezing point depression, vapor pressure lowering and osmotic pressure.These properties ideally depend on changes in the entropy of the solution on dissolving the solute.

Pure water has the lowest entropy. As we add ions and molecules to the water, the entropy of the solution increase in proportion to the number of ions and molecules. Water has a high free energy, due to low entropy. The solute will lower the free energy, by allowing the overall entropy to increase. The logic for the colligative properties is the solute, but lowering the free energy (via entropy increase) results in more energy being needed to boil, to vaporize, etc, the water solute solution compared to pure water.

Relative to osmotic pressure, the water will flow through the semi-permeable membrane from lower to higher solute concentration. This is the direction of higher to lower free energy and the direction of lower to higher entropy. This is shown in the figure below from Wikipedia (osmosis).



The figure on the right side shows the osmotic pressure (proportional to delta H ) . What is important here is free energy in the form of entropy can generate pressure, which means it can generate force, since pressure is force/area. In the case of reverse osmosis, we apply a force to increase the free energy within water (back to pure water) The removal of the solute (reverse osmosis) will cause the water entropy to lower and the water's free energy to increase. This increase in free energy, via entropy loss, can then be used to generate force through the natural direction of increasing entropy. Osmosis connects entropy to force/pressure.

I going attempt something which is subtle. In the diagram above, what I would like to add is a cap to the leg on the right side of the osmotic device. The purpose of the cap is when the water flows from right to left, pressure builds on the left side, while a partial vacuum is pulled on the right side due to the cap. The interesting situation that arises is the left side of the osmotic device shown, is under pressure, while the vacuum places the right side under tension. At steady state, water is flowing in both directions across the membrane in equal amounts.

If we look at the force vectors, the pressure from the right side is pushing left to right at the membrane, while the tension due to the vacuum is pulling to the right. These two forces are pushing and pulling in the same direction, yet the water flows equally in both directions. This steady state is unique to liquids. Gases cannot be placed under tension. While solids, if you push and pull in the same direction, can never never reach a steady state since it would keep moving in one direction.

The invisible force within the water (if it was solid) that appears to balance the push=pull ,is connected to the difference in entropy within the water on each side. The entropy difference in the water is acting like a balancing force. Most people don't normally think of entropy as a generator of directional force, but only randomness. This invisible (not conscious) directional force is useful to life.