Fusion Power: Breaking the Coulomb Barrier

[Morbius]

I believe that if you drank enough heavy water, it would posion you.

Paulanddiw,

If you drank enough ordinary light water it would poison you!

http://www.news10.net/display_story.aspx?storyid=23350

Otherwise, the biological differerences between light and heavy water are TRIVIAL!

Dr. Gregory Greenman
Physicist

 

[quetzalcoatl9]

When I or most scientists say "chemical" - we mean the chemical structure - how many valence
electrons, and what reactions are possible. In those cases, isotopes ARE chemically identical.

Morbius,

I appreciate your response. I think the difference was then more of symantics than anything else.

Q

 

[Paulanddiw]

Paulanddiw,

If you drank enough ordinary light water it would poison you!

http://www.news10.net/display_story.aspx?storyid=23350

Otherwise, the biological differerences between light and heavy water are TRIVIAL!

Dr. Gregory Greenman
Physicist

Oops, I should think before I reach for the keyboard. I meant "drinking" and "poisoning" in the sense used in the Winipeadia for plutonium.

 

[Morbius]

Oops, I should think before I reach for the keyboard. I meant "drinking" and "poisoning" in the sense used in the Winipeadia for plutonium.

Paulanddiw,

Either way - heavy water behaves JUST LIKE ordinary light water in the human body for all intents and
purposes.

There's nothing particularly "poisonous" about heavy water because it is heavy water rather than
ordinary light water.

Heavy water, D2O; is the same as light water, H2O; with the exception that the Hydrogen atoms are
replaced by Deuterium atoms, which are the heavy isotope of Hydrogen.

Isotopes behave with the same chemistry. In terms of engaging in chemical reactions, the
Deuterium is just like ordinary Hydrogen - so there is no different "poisoning" problem with
heavy water.

Isotopes are different in their NUCLEAR properties - which is why heavy water behaves differently
than ordinary light water in a nuclear reactor. However, in the human body, light water and heavy
water are for all intents and purposed interchangeable.

In my previous post, I couldn't really say that heavy water isn't "poisonous"; because in sufficient
quantities, it is; just like light water is.

Dr. Gregory Greenman
Physicist

 

[vanesch]

actually, if I understand correctly, there are small chemical differences between heavy water and light water, and indeed, if about 25-50% of your body water would be heavy water, several metabolical processes would be disturbed. As such, heavy water is "toxic" in a very very slight way, but if you would drink for more than a month of so *nothing else but* heavy water, you'd probably die or get seriously ill.
Drinking a glass (or a bottle) of heavy water is no problem. Drinking two bottles probably not, either. But drinking *only* heavy water for an extended period of time would be lethal.

http://rparticle.web-p.cisti.nrc.ca...ume=77&year=&issue=&msno=y99-005&calyLang=eng

 

[quetzalcoatl9]

actually, if I understand correctly, there are small chemical differences between heavy water and light water, and indeed, if about 25-50% of your body water would be heavy water, several metabolical processes would be disturbed. As such, heavy water is "toxic" in a very very slight way, but if you would drink for more than a month of so *nothing else but* heavy water, you'd probably die or get seriously ill.
Drinking a glass (or a bottle) of heavy water is no problem. Drinking two bottles probably not, either. But drinking *only* heavy water for an extended period of time would be lethal.

this really isn't hard to imagine, since many (if not most) enzymes utilize water as an electron donor in their catalysis. given that the vibrational modes of D2O will be substantially different than that of H2O some enzymes may not function correctly. (infact, a friend of mine uses this isotope effect to study the reaction mechanism of enzymes - in particular the rxn rate kinetics).