Conductometric and Calorimetric Studies of the Serially Diluted and Agitated Solutions. On the Combined Anomalous Effect of Time and Volume parameters

We systematically analysed the experimental data related to the specific conductivities and heats in excess of several serially diluted and agitated solutions (SDA for short). For all of the analysed samples, we found that both the excess conductivity, χE (μS cm−1), and excess heat, QmixE (J kg−1), varied with the age of the sample (up to 2 years of ageing). Furthermore, we found that after a certain period of ageing, small volume samples exhibited a much higher excess than large volume ones. The results we report in this paper are the product of a systematic study, during which we operated on known and constant volumes across the life of the samples. The incidence of volume on χE and QmixE turned out to be overwhelming when compared with that of time. The temporal evolution of the smaller samples was found significantly higher than that of the larger volume ones. A careful numerical analysis of the results uncovered an extraordinary and unexpected correlation, of exponential kind, between the excess parameters and the volume of the solution in the container. As for the temporal evolution of these systems, we found that the measured excess heats and conductivity often reach a maximum. That led us to the conclusion that the temporal evolution of the physico-chemical parameters is not caused by the slow process of equilibrium attainment; on the contrary, these systems are far from equilibrium systems, dissipative structures, whose experimental behaviour is certainly due to the variation of the super-molecular structure of the solvent, water. The agitation phase during the preparation could be the trigger for the formation of dissipative structures and the emergence of the novel behaviour. We put forth a simple rationalizing hypothesis, based on the general idea of water as an auto-organizing system that, when elicited by even small perturbations, can enter a far from equilibrium state, sustained by the dissipation of the electromagnetic energy coming from the environment. (Dissipative Structures).