NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Distilled water

Distilled water is water that has virtually all of its impurities removed through distillation. Distillation involves boiling the water and re-condensing the steam into a clean container, leaving most contaminants behind. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 443 Ã— 600 pixelsFull resolution (1152 Ã— 1559 pixel, file size: 895 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 443 Ã— 600 pixelsFull resolution (1152 Ã— 1559 pixel, file size: 895 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Impact from a water drop causes an upward rebound jet surrounded by circular capillary waves. ... Impurities are substances inside a confined amount of liquid, gas, or solid, which differ from the chemical composition of the material or compound. ... Laboratory distillation set-up using, without a fractionating column 1: Heat source 2: Still pot 3: Still head 4: Thermometer/Boiling point temperature 5: Condenser 6: Cooling water in 7: Cooling water out 8: Distillate/receiving flask 9: Vacuum/gas inlet 10: Still receiver 11: Heat control 12: Stirrer speed... Boiling, a type of phase transition, is the rapid vaporization of a liquid, which typically occurs when a liquid is heated to its boiling point, the temperature at which the vapor pressure of the liquid is equal to the pressure exerted on the liquid by the surrounding atmospheric pressure. ... It has been suggested that this article be split into articles entitled steam and water vapor, accessible from a disambiguation page. ...

Applications

In chemical and biological laboratories, as well as industry, cheaper alternatives such as deionized water are preferred over distilled water.^{[citation needed]} However, if these alternatives are not sufficiently pure, distilled water is used. Where exceptionally high purity water is required, double distilled water is used. Deionized water (DI water or de-ionized water; also spelled deionised water, see spelling differences) is water that lacks ions, such as cations from sodium, calcium, iron, copper and anions such as chloride and bromide. ... Double distilled water (abbreviated ddH2O or Bidest. ...

Distilled water is also commonly used to top up lead acid batteries used in cars and trucks. The presence of other ions commonly found in tap water will cause a drastic reduction in its lifespan. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Distilled water is preferable to tap water for use in automotive cooling systems. The minerals and ions typically found in tap water can be corrosive to internal engine components, and can cause a more rapid depletion of the anti-corrosion additives found in most antifreeze formulations.^{[citation needed]} Antifreeze is used in internal combustion engines, and for many other heat transfer applications, such as electronics cooling and chillers for HVAC. Compounds are added to water to reduce the freezing point of the mixture to below the lowest temperature that the system is likely to be exposed to, and...

Using distilled water in steam irons for pressing clothes can help reduce mineral build-up and make the iron last longer. However, many iron manufacturers say that distilled water is no longer necessary in their irons.^{[citation needed]} An iron Ironing or smoothing is the work of using a heated tool to remove wrinkles from washed clothes. ...

Some people use distilled water for household aquariums because it lacks the chemicals found in tap water supplies. It is important to supplement distilled water when using it for fishkeeping; it is too pure to sustain proper chemistry to support an aquarium ecosystem.^{[citation needed]} Aquarium is also the name of the Russian band, which is also spelled Akvarium A 335,000 gallon (1. ... A water tap In most developed nations drinking water is piped to homes and is available on tap. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

Drinking distilled water

Many beverage manufacturers use distilled water to ensure a drink's purity and taste. Bottled distilled water is sold as well, and can usually be found in supermarkets. Water purification, such as distillation, is especially important in regions where water resources or tap water is not suitable for ingesting without boiling or chemical treatment. Supermarket produce section A supermarket is a store that sells a wide variety of goods including food and alcohol, medicine, clothes, and other household products that are consumed regularly. ... Control room and schematics of the water purification plant to Bret lake. ...

Water filtration devices are common in many households. Most of these devices do not distill water, though there continues to be an increase in consumer-oriented water distillers and reverse osmosis machines being sold and used. Municipal water supplies often add or have trace impurities at levels which are regulated to be safe for consumption. Much of these additional impurities, such as volatile organic compounds, fluoride, and an estimated 75,000+ other chemical compounds^{[citation needed]} are not removed through conventional filtration; however, distillation does eliminate nearly all of these impurities. Reverse osmosis is a separation process that uses pressure to force a solvent through a membrane that retains the solute on one side and allows the pure solvent to pass to the other side. ... Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are organic chemical compounds that have high enough vapour pressures under normal conditions to significantly vaporize and enter the atmosphere. ... Fluoride is the ionic form of fluorine. ...

Distilled water is also used as drinking water in arid seaside areas which do not have sufficient freshwater, by distilling seawater. It is quite common on ships, especially nuclear powered ships, which require a large supply of distilled water as coolant. The drinking water is produced in desalination plants, although it is very expensive due to the large amount of fuel needed to boil water. Alternative technologies like reverse osmosis are becoming increasingly important in this regard due to their greatly reduced costs. Nuclear marine propulsion is propulsion of a Merchant ship powered by a nuclear reactor. ... Desalination refers to any of several processes that removes the excess salt and minerals from water in order to obtain fresh water suitable for animal consumption or for irrigation, sometimes producing table salt as a byproduct. ... Reverse osmosis is a separation process that uses pressure to force a solvent through a membrane that retains the solute on one side and allows the pure solvent to pass to the other side. ...

Pros and cons

The drinking of distilled water has been both advocated and discouraged for health reasons. The lack of naturally-occurring minerals in distilled water has raised some concerns. The Journal of General Internal Medicine^[1] published a study on the mineral contents of different waters available in the US. The study concluded, "drinking water sources available to North Americans may contain high levels of Calcium, Magnesium, and Sodium and may provide clinically important portions of the recommended dietary intake of these minerals," and further encouraged individuals to "check the mineral content of their drinking water, whether tap or bottled, and choose water most appropriate for their needs." Since distilled water is devoid of minerals, supplemental mineral intake through diet is needed to maintain proper health. General Name, Symbol, Number calcium, Ca, 20 Chemical series alkaline earth metals Group, Period, Block 2, 4, s Appearance silvery white Standard atomic weight 40. ... General Name, symbol, number magnesium, Mg, 12 Chemical series alkaline earth metals Group, period, block 2, 3, s Appearance silvery white solid at room temp Standard atomic weight 24. ... General Name, Symbol, Number sodium, Na, 11 Chemical series alkali metals Group, Period, Block 1, 3, s Appearance silvery white Standard atomic weight 22. ...

It is often observed that consumption of "hard" water, or water that has some minerals, is associated with beneficial cardiovascular effects. As noted in the American Journal of Epidemiology, consumption of hard drinking water is negatively correlated with atherosclerotic heart disease.^[2] Since distilled water is free of minerals, it will not have these potential benefits. Heart disease is an umbrella term for a number of different diseases which affect the heart and is the leading cause of death in the United States as of 2007. ...

It has been suggested that -- because distilled water lacks fluoride ions that are added by many governments (e.g. municipalities in the United States) at water treatment plants using fluoridation for its supposed effect on the inhibition of cavity formation -- the drinking of distilled water may increase the risk of tooth decay due to a lack of this element.^[3] Fluoride is the ionic form of fluorine. ... This article needs cleanup. ... Caries is a progressive destruction of any kind of bone structure, including the skull, the ribs and other bones. ...

A purported effect of drinking water in its pure form is a more powerful solvent that helps cleanse toxins from the body^{[citation needed]}.

The costs associated with water distillation have generally been prohibitive. However, distilling water with solar water distillers is becoming increasingly popular around the world; they can be relatively simple to design and build.^{[citation needed]}

Myths

A popular myth about distilled water is that it has the dangerous property of being more easily heated above its normal boiling point without actually boiling (as seen in "Mythbusters") in a process known as superheating. When superheated water is disturbed or has impurities added to it, a nucleation center for bubbles form. These bubbles are then new nucleation centers, and a sudden, explosive boiling can occur, possibly causing serious injury to those nearby. However, distilled water and tap water do not differ in their ease of or danger in being superheated. The dissolved impurities in motionless tap water do not present enough disturbance to inhibit superheating. Italic text This article is about the boiling point of liquids. ... In physics, superheating (sometimes referred to as boiling retardation, boiling delay, or defervescence) is the phenomenon in which a liquid is heated to a temperature higher than its standard boiling point, without actually boiling. ...

References

Contents

Applications

Drinking distilled water

Pros and cons

Myths

References

See also

Contents

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Drinking distilled water

Pros and cons

Myths

References

See also

Applications