Respiration of water

Vladimir L. Voeikov
Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
Respiration is a chemical process whereby cells use oxygen to release energy; a technical term for “breathing”. According to common knowledge aerobic respiration is restricted to glucose oxidation to carbon dioxide and water (a process reverse to photosynthesis) in which energy is stored in the form of ATP molecules that are used to provide energy for all vital activities. It is also generally accepted that atmospheric oxygen ensuring respiration emerged as a by-product of plant photosynthesis, while oxidizable organic compounds appeared in the course of pre-biotic evolution in oxygen-free milieu.

However, recently there appeared evidence that water molecules in aqueous systems may decompose to H2 and O2 under the influence of mechanical and other low density energy factors in rather mild conditions (close to neutral pH values, normal temperature, ets.). Intensity of this process is high enough to provide accumulation of oxygen in atmosphere up to contemporary levels in relatively short historical period without participation of biological photosynthesis. On the other hand there appeared evidence that oxygen can directly oxidize water to hydrogen peroxide. In many reactions of direct oxidation by oxygen of its substrates free radicals emerge as intermediate products. Such reactions are accompanied with generation of electronic excitation energy equivalent to energy of visible and even UV light photons and may be monitored by registration of ultra-weak photon emission from systems where they go on.

We used the method of single photon counting for the analysis of the properties of pure water, artesian waters, tap water and other kinds of aqueous systems, including aqueous solutions of simple bioorganic molecules in which processes of their spontaneous autoxidation develop. We have shown that in many kinds of artesian water contacting with air there develop a process of autoxidation of water, and that at least part of energy released as it goes on does not dissipate but rather may accumulate in water and may be released as photonic energy or used for the performance of chemical work.

Formally this phenomenon may be defined as “Respiration of water”. Different patterns of photon emission including non-linear oscillatory ones may be observed dependent on a particular aqueous system. The process of accumulation of energy in water equivalent to the levels of electron excitation energy, the patterns of photonic emission oscillations turned out to be highly responsive to very low intensity external factors including irradiation of aqueous systems with radiations of ultra-weak intensities. The probable role of these processes for the biological properties of drinking water and water participation in vital processes is considered.

Taken as a whole the new information on phenomena related to oxidation-reduction processes arising in water and aqueous systems calls for the serious re-evaluation of many currently dominating biological concepts related to all levels of organization of biological systems – from molecular to biospheric ones.



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