Posted by JLx on November 2, 2003, at 9:00:32
In reply to Re: distilled water » JLx, posted by Larry Hoover on November 2, 2003, at 7:16:13
Very interesting....I don't understand the chemistry here, but in general do you agree that distilled water draws out minerals from the body?
I recall reading somewhere once that letting tap water stand open for 24 hours will evaporate some of the chlorine. True or hogwash? I am really financially prohibited from buying water, so anything that makes my tap water even a bit better would be good. Would boiling it be worthwhile? I have very hard water which is one reason why I was drinking distilled water when I was drying to counteract the past effects of high calcium intact.
(Glad to see you back! :))
> Problem is, that particular article and the links are horribly misleading about the acidity concept.
>
> Water dissolves carbon dioxide from the air. All water does that, not just distilled. It dissolves carbon dioxide until it is in dynamic equilibrium with the atmosphere. That means that the amount being dissolved balances the amount coming out of solution. The total amount in the water is determined by the concentration in the atmosphere. In other words, you can't control this effect. All water has dissolved carbon dioxide in it, except water that has very recently been boiled. Within a couple of hours, it's reached that equilibrium again.
>
> What makes the water acidic is the interaction between carbon dioxide and water.
>
> 2H2O + CO2 --> H2O + H2CO3 (carbonic acid) --> (H30+)(charged acidified water) + (HCO3-) (charged bicarbonate ion). Bicarbonate can then go on to lose another proton to another water molecule, but the reaction I've described in detail is the dominant acid-promoting one. Standing water has a pH of about 5.7 or 5.8.
>
> Mercola goes on to say that this is highly acidic. Wrong! It is so slightly acidic that you can't taste the acid (your tongue has acid sensors). I don't care where you get your water from, it has the same pH, unless it has another form of acid added to it (e.g. acid rain, which is in part caused by the interaction of sulphur dioxide and water, H2O + SO2 --> H2SO3, and so on).
>
> Distilled water is not healthy because of the lack of dissolved minerals, not because of the acid.
>
> Lar
poster:JLx
thread:265204
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20031023/msgs/275744.html