Purifying water with electric fields

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the use of electric fields for purifying water, specifically in the context of preventing calcium carbonate (CaCO3) from depositing onto pipes in cooling towers. Participants explore the underlying physics and chemistry of the technology, questioning its validity and effectiveness.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Technical explanation

Main Points Raised

  • One participant questions whether an electric field can effectively strip particles of their static charge and whether this process would also affect the static charge of CaCO3, potentially leading to repulsion between the particles.
  • Another participant mentions attending a sales presentation for a similar product and expresses skepticism, referencing a website that categorizes such concepts as pseudoscience.
  • A different participant expresses increased confidence in the skepticism towards the technology after reviewing the referenced site and notes the lack of settled information on the topic, suggesting a need for more empirical data.
  • One participant shares a personal anecdote about their interest in the subject and hints at further investigation into the technology.
  • A final contribution introduces a related concept of water conditioning using magnetic fields, suggesting that this method has been in use for decades.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express skepticism about the effectiveness of the electric field technology for water purification, but no consensus is reached on the validity of the claims or the underlying science. Multiple competing views and uncertainties remain present throughout the discussion.

Contextual Notes

Participants highlight the need for more empirical data and express uncertainty regarding the scientific basis of the technology. There are references to potential pseudoscience and a lack of settled information on the effectiveness of electric fields in water treatment.

murrdpirate0
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I'm an HVAC engineer and my company has tasked me with researching a variety of water treatment products (for cooling towers). One of which is Dolphin Water Care (http://www.dolphinwatercare.com/Index.aspx)

The technology seems a little fishy to me, so I wanted to see if anyone could tell me whether or not the physics even makes sense. Basically the goal is to prevent CaCO3 from coming out of solution and depositing onto pipes. This is how is supposedly works:

1. Water passes through an electric field.
2. The electric field strips particles (doesn't say what they are exactly) of their static charge.
3. CaCO3 precipitates onto the stripped particles instead of onto pipes.

So they don't prevent the CaCO3 from precipitating, but they keep it flowing in the water. Eventually the water flows into a large vat. At that point, everything settles to the bottom and you can just clean it out.Can you even use an electric field to strip particles of their static charge? And even if you can, can you strip these "particles" of their static charge without stripping the CaCO3 of its static charge? I'm assuming they would just repel each other if they were both stripped of their static charge.
 
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I'm an HVAC engineer too and I've seen this before and had a similar doubt, but never went too deep into it. I went to a sales presentation (at a go-kart track!) for these guys: http://www.enecon.com/products/eneflow_01.asp

And a google comes up with a site suggesting the concept is psuedoscience: http://www.chem1.com/CQ/magscams.html

I didn't see a need to use it anywhere, so I didn't try to learn the chemistry, but maybe someone with more chemistry background will chime in...
 
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Man, I'm usually such a good googler. That site you mentioned is great! By far the best info I've seen, and I've been searching forever.

Definitely more confident that this stuff is bogus. But like the author says, I'm surprised that this stuff hasn't been completely settled (or at least settled and easy to find). Maybe I'll have to talk to some people at the government and see if I can get some actual data.

BTW, those are some amazing photos you have on your website. I didn't know it was possible to take such good photos as a hobbyist.
 
I was a star on my high school Google team. I always thought I had a shot at the majors before blowing out my knee...sad story for another time...

I'm curious enough about this subject maybe I'll look into it further tomorrow.

Thanks for the compliments on my website. It hasn't been updated in about a year and I've since gotten a new planetary camera, so my new pics blow those out of the water (wasn't a good year for the deep space stuff though...). Here's Mars from last week, in our astrophotography thread: https://www.physicsforums.com/showpost.php?p=2539921&postcount=283
 
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