A floating water bridge produces water with excess charge

Abstract

Excess positive and negative Bjerrum-defect like charge (protonic and ‘aterprotonic’, from ancient Greek ἄ'τερ, ‘without’) in anolyte and catholyte of high voltage electrolysis of highly pure water was found during the so-called ‘floating water bridge’ experiment. The floating water bridge is a special case of an electrohydrodynamic liquid bridge and constitutes an intriguing phenomenon that occurs when a high potential difference (~kV cm−1) is applied between two beakers of water. To obtain such results impedance spectroscopy was used. This measurement technique allows the depiction and simulation of complex aqueous systems as simple electric circuits. In the present work we show that there is an additional small contribution from the difference in conductivity between anolyte and catholyte which cannot be measured with a conductivity meter, but is clearly visible in an impedance spectrum.