What is heavy water and is it possible to differentiate its taste from that of regular water?

Arabia Weather - Ordinary water is a compound consisting of hydrogen and oxygen, and its chemical formula is H2O, which means that there are two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom in each molecule, and this type of water is sometimes known as light water, and there is another type of water known as heavy water, so what is heavy water? ?

What is heavy water?

Heavy water contains the heavy hydrogen isotope known as deuterium instead of protium. Deuterium consists of one proton and one neutron and its chemical formula is D2O , meaning that each molecule of heavy water contains two deuterium atoms and one oxygen atom.

In nature, protium is the most common isotope of hydrogen at approximately 99.985%, while deuterium makes up a small percentage of about 0.015% of hydrogen and trace concentrations of tritium can be found, which has two protons and two neutrons and is considered a relatively radioactive element.

American chemist Harold Clayton Urey discovered heavy water in 1931, and won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1934;34 for his discovery of this type of water. In 1933, Lewis and Donald succeeded in preparing small quantities of pure heavy water by electrolyzing the water to separate deuterium from protium. .

Heavy water is useful in nuclear applications as it can be used to moderate neutrons in a nuclear reactor, and it also has different properties from regular water including density, melting point, and boiling point.

Is it possible to differentiate between the taste of heavy water and regular water?

Research and molecular models conducted by scientists from the Czech Republic and Germany have shown that humans have receptors that respond to the effects of heavy water, according to the journal Communications Biology . These results highlight an important point in the scientific debate regarding the possibility of distinguishing the taste of heavy water from regular water.

Although the chemical formula of heavy water and ordinary water is similar, as they both contain two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, the difference lies in the hydrogen atoms. Whereas ordinary water contains two protons as hydrogen properties, while heavy water contains deuterium instead of two protons, and despite the similarity of the basic chemical properties of the two waters, such as pH and boiling point, the density of heavy water is higher by about 10% compared to ordinary water. .

After the discovery of heavy water in the 1930s, there was controversy over whether it had a special taste, and despite anecdotal evidence indicating a sweet taste to heavy water, chemist Harold Urey himself officially confirmed that it had no special taste.

In their study, the researchers conducted experiments on cultured cells, laboratory mice and humans, and used the sweetness inhibitor Lactisol, which works through the TAS1R2/TAS1R3 receptors that represent sweetness, and discovered that humans can distinguish the sweet taste of heavy water, while mice do not have similar receptors, indicating It has an effect on people's taste for heavy water.

Based on these results, the study clearly shows that humans can distinguish between the taste of heavy water and regular water based on their taste, and thus contributes to resolving the ongoing debate on this topic. The researchers intend to continue their study of the effect of heavy water on human receptors, including those in the skin. Which could have potential medical applications.

Also know:

Scientists have discovered a new human sense of touch...what is it?

When it rains, plants experience a state of emergency just like humans

Sources:

hazemsakeek

arabic.rt