H3O2 - it's one better all round
Mark Honeychurch - 8th August 2022
It’s nice to occasionally be able to talk about nonsense outside of New Zealand. In this case, the Sydney Morning Herald recently printed - and then retracted - an article about a supposed new form of water called hexagonal water, made up of H3O2 molecules.
Now, although I’m no expert, I have enough background education in chemistry to know that this is likely not going to be what they say it is. For starters, H2O has a balanced charge, with hydrogen having a single negative charge, and oxygen a double positive. Together, the two bind together, sharing their electrons and balancing their charges - two negatives and a double positive make for a happy molecule. But H3O2 is three negative and four positive - which will leave this poor molecule ionised and I’m guessing relatively unstable.
And these unstable ions would absolutely not be considered to be water. If we add an oxygen atom to water to make H2O2, for example, it’s no longer water - it’s hydrogen peroxide, a bleach. And that hydrogen peroxide wants to give away one of its oxygen atoms to become the more stable water again, so it in effect will try to oxidise anything it comes in contact with - and that’s how it works as a bleach, giving away an oxygen that will then break down other molecular bonds. Similarly, H3O2 would be unstable and would rapidly break down when given the chance (at a guess it might first break into a single water molecule and a hydroxy group, OH-).
Okay, so enough of the half-remembered technical chemistry stuff. The Herald article, which as I said has since been removed, reads as a total puff piece for this “structured water” and Phi’on, a company run by Rob Gourlay. Rob calls himself Phi’on’s “chief scientist”, although from what I can tell he’s about as far away from science as you can be. He runs a dowsing company called Primal Water, meaning that for a fee he’ll use copper rods to detect mystical “ley lines” and find water underground on your property. And he says daft things like:
“In nature, this water has a negative electromagnetic charge, but when it’s taken from its natural flowing state and stored in tanks, reservoirs or dams, it converts to a positive charge. For our cells to function at their best, we need to be drinking water that is coherent with cell charge or function… There are so many health benefits of drinking structured water, including improved hydration and uptake of minerals, increased oxygen, reduced inflammation, and elimination of foreign or toxic pollutants.”
A video, in case you want to hear more of Rob Gourlay’s nonsense!
I can’t stress enough that this is just total and utter garbage. Companies selling devices like this that are meant to condition your water to be alkaline or healthier (I’m looking at you, Kangen) are just selling you a useless product at a horribly expensive price - $2,500 or more.
It’s great that the Herald pulled the article down, but they never should have published it in the first place. A 5 minute conversation with an actual scientist would have let the journalist know that they’d been hoodwinked by a scammer.