2830

The Effect of Magnetic Fields on the pH of Water

T. I. QUICKENDEN, D. &!I. BETTS, B. COLE, AND M. NOBLE
by T. I. Quickenden,"' D. M. Betts, B. Cole, and M. Noble
Department of Chemistry, linicersity of Queensland, St. Luci a. 4007, Brisbane, Australia
Publication costs borne completely by The:Journal of Physical Chemistry
(Received February 16, 1971)
Xo changes in pH were observed after doubly distilled water was passed through magnetic fields in the range
0 to 24,000 G. The pH was recorded continuously using a glass electrode inserted in a flow system which
led the water through the field at flow rates between 1.08 and 200 ml mill-'. The glass electrode was suffi-
ciently distant fromthe magnet for it, and the water sample, to bein a region of zero field. No evidence was
obtained to support the claims of Joshi and Kamat,2 who reported apparently permanent pH changes of up
to +0.62 unit in water which had been passed through a magnetic field. It was shown that changes of this
magnitude would beenergetically improbable.
According to J oshi and I iamat,2 magnetic fields in
the range 1900-5700 G (1 G = Wb m-2) per-
manently change the pH of distilled water by up to
+0.62 pH unit. Similar observations have been re-
ported3 for naturally occurring xaters. Ileasure-
ments4--6 of magnetic effects on the physical properties
of Tvater have usually been part of an investigation of
the reduction of boiler scale which results when the
water supplied to a boiler is passed through a magnetic
field. A variety of explanations have been proposed
for this phenomenon and one such explanation2 in-
volves a magnetically induced change in the pH of
water. This present publication records an unsuccess-
ful attempt to reproduce the pH changes reported by
J oshi and I(amat.2
Experimental Section
The pH of the water was measured on a Toanson
and Mercer recording pH meter equipped with a
Titron glass electrode (Type A) and an automatic
temperature compensator. The magnetic field was
provided by a 4700-G Rola permanent magnet Type
PA145 with a pole gap of 1.9 cm and a pole diameter of
6.4 cm.
Doubly distilled water, which had been stored in a
S-1. Pyrex glass flask, \yas passed through the magnetic
field via an all-glass Pyrex siphon of internal diameter
0.4 cm. FolloTving J oshi and Kamat,2 the water was
equilibrated Lvith atmospheric carbon dioxide. The
glass electrode, a thermometer, and the temperature
compensating probe were all incorporated in a 17-ml
glass bulb which was an integral part of the glass
siphon. The magnetic field lvas applied to the water in
the siphon at a point 30 cm before the glass bulb.
-1Iovement of the magnet to or from this position caused
only a transient deflection on the pH meter of less than
0.005 pH unit, irrespective of whether the water was
present or not.
Room temperature varied slowly during the experi-
ments from 299.6 to 302.9"K. The measured pH
showed a temperature dependence of 0.02 pH unit
OK-'. This figure includes the effect of temperature
on the pK, of water and the effect of any inadequacy
in the automatic temperature compensator. During
any one run with the permanent magnet the tempera-
ture changed by less than 0.3"K.
The surface of the glassware is a potential source or
recipient of protons and hydroxyl ions. To minimize
pH changes due to surface desorption, all the glassware
was soaked for 15 hr in an alkaline cleaning mixture
containing detergent and sodium hexametaphosphate.
After rinsing in once distilled xater, the glassware was
soaked for several days in two successive batches of
doubly distilled water. After this treatment, the same
glassware was used without further cleaning through-
out the whole series of measurements which were car-
ried out over a period of several months. This clean-
ing procedure would be expected to maintain contamina-
tion from the glass at a low or steadily decreasing level.
No systematic trend in the pH was observed over the
period of measurement.
The pH meter and chart recorder were earthed at a
common point in order to minimize electrical inter-
ference. The normal operations and movements in
the vicinity of the pH meter had no detectable effect on
the recorded pH.
I n order to carry out a measurement, water was
passed through the glass siphon at a constant, measured
rate, which was controlled by restricting the air flow to
the reservoir with capillary tubes of various sizes.
(1) To whom all correspondence should be sent at the Department of
Physical and Inorganic Chemistry, University of Western Australia,
Nedlands, 6009, Western Australia.
(2) K. M. J oshi and P. V. Kamat, J . I ndi an Chem. Soc., 43, 620
(1966).
(3) T. Kohout, Vod. Hospod., 12, 458 (1962).
(4) D. M. Umanskii, Sov. Phys.-Tech. Phys. , 10, 1720 (1966).
(5) 9. A. Bruns, V. I. Klassen, and A. K. Kon'shina, Kolloid. Zh.,
28, 153 (1966).
(6) R. Delhes, Cent. Belge Et ude Corros., Rapp. Tech., No. 747
(1961).
The Journal of Physical Chemi st ry, Vol. 76, Xo. 18, 1971
THE EFFECT OF MAGNETIC FIELDS ON THE pH OF WATER 2831
The pH of the flowing water was recorded for approxi-
mately 10 min. The magnet was then placed in posi-
tion and the pH recorded for twice the time i t took for
the water to pass from the magnet to the glass electrode.
The magnet was then removed and the pH recorded
again for at least 10 min. Although the recorded pH
was displaced slightly to a new value whenever the flow
rate was changed, i t nevertheless fluctuated by less than
h0.04 pH unit during any series of measurements at
constant flow rate. Magnetically induced changes as
small as 0.04 pH unit would have been detectable by
this method.
Results and Discussion
Flow rates of 1.08, 8.2, 8.7, 9.8, 11.6, and 12.7 ml
min- were examined as described above, but in no
case was any systematic change in pH observed. The
flow rates examined were in the range investigated by
J oshi and Kamat2 and the flux density used was close to
the figure of 4800 G used by these workers in one of
their measurements.
I n order to test the possibility that pH changes are
produced only by fields of certain critical intensity, the
permanent magnet was replaced by an electromagnet
which was varied continuously from 0 to 24,000 G over
a period of 20 min. pH changes as small as 0.1 pH
unit could be measured by this method. No such
changes were observed at flow rates between 3.2 and
200 ml min-.
The results presented here provide no evidence for
the pH changes reported by J oshi and Kamat. These
workers attributed the pH changes to magnetically
induced changes in the ionization constant of mater.
This explanation is not tenable thermodynamically.
It can be shown7 that when a magnetic field is
applied to an equilibrium reaction
VIAI + VZAZ + . . + . . + vn-1An-i + vA,
between nonferromagnetic substances, that the equi-
librium constant changes from K to K, where
K, =K expA - - (1)
2RT
I n this equation, which is expressed in unrationalized
cgs-emu units, H is the magnetic intensity, xt is the
molar magnetic susceptibility of species i, and T is the
absolute temperature.
At room temperature (300K) and at the maximum
field of 5700 G ( H zz 5700 Oe) used by J oshi and Kamat,
eq 1 predicts that KH differs from K by only 2 parts in
lo7, even in the optimal case where a paramagnetic
substance with xt =2 X loe4 cm@ mol- is in equilib-
rium with a diamagnetic substance for which x i =- 1
X cm3 mol-.
The derivation of eq 1 assumes that the change of
volume on magnetization is negligible and that the
magnetic susceptibility of the material is independent
of the magnetic intensity. The former approximation
is generally true and the second holds except for ferro-
magnetic materials and a few other unusual cases.* I n
the present situation both assumptions should hold for
the three species involved in the equilibrium
2HzO H30++ OH-
I n view of the above calculations and in view of the
measurements presented here, it is doubtful whether the
observations of J oshi and Kamat2 represent a property
of water. It may further be concluded that mag-
netically induced changes in the pH of water are not a
feasible explanation for any inhibition of boiler scale
which resultse when the water supplied to a boiler is
passed through a magnetic field.
(7) R. Delhes, Bull. SOC. Roy. Sci. Liege, 26, 161 (1957).
(8) E. A. Guggenheim, Thermodynamics, 3rd ed, North Holland
Publishing Co., Amsterdam, 1957, p 430.
The Journal of Physical Chemistry, Vol. 76, No. 18, I971