Polywater was supposed to be an alternate form of ordinary H2O in which the molecules were linked to produce a strange new substance, denser and far more viscous than water, which remained a liquid all the way from -70 degrees Fahrenheit to almost 500 degrees.
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"Polywater was supposed to be an alternate form of ordinary H2O in which the molecules were linked to produce a strange new substance, denser and far more viscous than water, which remained a liquid all the way from -70 degrees Fahrenheit to almost 500 degrees. It could be produced only by condensation in extremely thin capillary tubes. Even from 1968 to 1972, when hundreds of researchers participated in the Polywater boom, the world's supposed total supply was measured in drops. Naturally that made polywater hard to study and delayed the emergence of the boring, bitter truth: that polywater was nothing more than a solution of impurities....
"There have been many good books about successful scientific research, but Polywater is especially valuable as a reminder of all the research that leads nowhere.... For most laymen, however, the message of Polywater may be encouraging: there is, after all, something wonderful about an enterprise in which people can feel so much remorse and chagrin, not over cruelty, treachery, or hypocrisy, but simply over being enthusiastically and publicly wrong."
- Discover
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must for any scientist!,
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This review is from: POLYWATER. (Hardcover)
This book tells the story about Polywater. It shows how scientists can follow trends and publish nonsense. I think it is a lesson that every scientist should learn - be more critical, be careful when you follow trends.
The writing is very nice and entertaining. I really like the analogy with Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle book.
4.0 out of 5 stars
History of the Cold Fusion of the Late Sixties,
This review is from: Polywater (Paperback)
Felix Franks recounts the story of one of the more embarrassing fallacies of established science: polywater. During the sixties, some Russian scientists found experimental evidence of what they assumed to be long range order in specially prepared samples of water. Scientist in the west were not to be outdone (their interest perhaps fueled by the ongoing cold war), and soon similar research was a hot topic in Europe and USA. The term polywater was coined for this 'polymerized' form of water, and some spectacular claims were made concerning its properties, which even reached ordinary media. Franks follows this development, and also what happens in the next step when the fad dies out after being discredited by more thorough investigations. The story is of interest to scientist of all fields and people interested in the scientific method as an example of how science can go astray. The subject matter makes it particularly amusing for physical/inorganic chemists.
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