Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

hyzermofo t1_j684khs wrote

Reply to comment by frakc in ELI5: why can't we use electricity to kill microorganisms in small amount of water ? by FreshT3ch

Like, life? Primordial soup, that sort of thing?

97

en1mal t1_j6865gd wrote

I think he means electrolysis. Putting a current in a solution (e.g between two metal prongs) makes the negative and positive charged particles flock to their according charge. Or new particles form. Its how the metal industry applies small films of materials to objects.

178

_ShakashuriBlowdown t1_j688uhy wrote

There are all these videos (I'll try and edit one in if I find it) of Chinese "water boilers", which are just + and - electrodes that you put into water. The problem is, even in "clean" water, the electrodes themselves begin to electrolyze into the water. The tap water isn't clean either, so all the minerals begin electrolyzing and depositing onto the cathode as well.

EDIT: This is used in a scam to show that one's water is actually impure, and that one should buy the salesman's water filter. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASnLL6ebaco

83

en1mal t1_j689ne9 wrote

Yeah "water purity" is a grey zone, lots of scams. When I was young I earned some cash as a handyman. The stuff some people wanted me to install in their water system was baffling. Especially since I live in an european country with probably the best tap water quality in the world.

edit: just watched the vid, hillarious, they are just disolving the toxic metal particles in the water holy moly and use distilled non conductive water for the "proof". Yay humanity!

56

zebediah49 t1_j68ho0z wrote

> edit: just watched the vid, hillarious, they are just disolving the toxic metal particles in the water holy moly and use distilled non conductive water for the "proof". Yay humanity!

It might not be toxic.

Looked like steel, so you're primarily just producing iron oxide (rust) and dumping that into/onto the water. But also whatever else is alloyed into the steel. And I still wouldn't touch it.

12

Juan_Ebolovich t1_j68l9f3 wrote

Yeah, if it's stainless steel for example, you're getting some delicious chromium, which is a Bad Time.

15

CulturalIndication1 t1_j692iez wrote

Yeah, fuck chromium. I grew up in a town that had a chrome plating factory and they dumped their waste in the creek that ran alongside two schools. I was born with correctable heart defect but damn there were a lot of kids with cancer.

6

Soranic t1_j6av8ti wrote

Jersey City?

1

CulturalIndication1 t1_j6avg7d wrote

Nah, Northern California, Willits

3

Soranic t1_j6awi2i wrote

Jersey City used to regularly turn some shade of purple because of the factory. Now there's a gated community in place of the factory.

The local wetlands preserve says not to eat the crabs in the water because you'll get cancer.

2

_ShakashuriBlowdown t1_j68o3c3 wrote

Been doing some home electrolysis for fun. Everything I read about chromium has me feeling like this.

4

calivino1 t1_j68llty wrote

To be fair, pure water doesnt conduct elctricity. So theyre technically correct

2

_ShakashuriBlowdown t1_j68oe2q wrote

That's how these scams work though, right? They prey on half-truths, things that "feel" right.

8

stupidshinji t1_j6ag0y0 wrote

you’re thinking of electrophoresis (and techniques that apply this phenomenon such as electroplating), not electrolysis

1

aberroco t1_j68m24i wrote

Like salt. Even the usual one, NaCl, dissolved in water and electrolyzed, dissipates to NaOH, NaOCl, HCl, H2 and Cl2. HCl, H2 and Cl2 are gaseous, so they bubble out, but NaOH (lye) and NaOCl (bleach) stays in solution.

And that's just one example, there's multitude of other chemicals that's produced by electrolysis, potentially making water toxic.

11