Hydrohysteretic Phenomena of “Extremely Diluted Solutions” Induced by Mechanical Treatments: A Calorimetric and Conductometric Study at 25 ◦C

The purpose of this study was to obtain information about the influence of successive dilutions and succussions (violent shaking) on the structure ofwater. “Extremely diluted solutions” (EDS) are solutions obtained through the iteration of two processes: 1:100 dilution and succussion. Those two processes are repeated until extreme dilutions are reached, so that the chemical composition of the end solution is identical to that of the solvent. We measured the heats of mixing and the electrical conductivity of basic solutions of such EDS, and compared these results with the analogous heats of mixing and electrical conductivity of the untreated solvent. The measurements were carried out as a function of the age of the samples.We found some relevant exothermic excess heat of mixing, and higher electrical conductivity than those of the untreated solvent, also in function of time. The measurements show a good linear correlation between the two independent physico-chemical quantities, implying a single cause for this behavior of the extremely diluted solutions. The slopes of the linear correlation depend on the age of the EDS. Such a phenomenon could result from a variation of the shape of molecular aggregates that characterize the two different supramolecular structures of the water of different ages. This behavior could provide important support for understanding the nature of the phenomena described herein. A really intriguing phenomenon is the evolution of some physico-chemical properties with time. This hints at a “trigger” effect on the formation of molecular aggregates that result from the succussion procedure. We show that successive dilutions and succussions can permanently alter the physicochemical properties of the aqueous solvent, the extent of which depends on the age of the samples.