What the Experts say
Magnetic Water Treatment Demystified
by Dr. Klaus J. Kronenberg, Claremont, CA
Magnetic Treatment of Water and its application to agriculture
By Dr. Israel
Microscopic Fuel Tests Using Magnetic Fuel Conditioning
by Dr. Klaus J. Kronenberg, Claremont, CAMagnetic Neuromedicine an "Attractive" Promise
Frank Adams, MD, FRCPC, DAAPM
Therapeutic Magnetism in Veterinary Practice
Drs.D.C. and M. Laycock
MAGNETIC WATER TREATMENT DE-MYSTIFIED
by Dr. Klaus J. Kronenberg Claremont, CA
Slowly, but steadily, physical treatments of water with magnetic fields become known and accepted in the Western World. They have been utilized since about 25 years in many countries of the Eastern World, the USSR and Mainland China for instance. There, hundreds of success- reports have been published, most of them admitting the lack of a fully satisfying scientific explanation. These papers describe - often in great detail - the observation of reduced formation of hard lime scale, the elimination of old lime scale deposits, accelerated plant growth, desalination of soils, improvement of concrete, better cleaning, faster drying, better taste and smell of drinking water, changes of freezing modes, beneficial effects on patients with kidney stones, and minute changes in some physical constants of the water, such as viscosity, IR absorption, surface tension, to name just a few.
Many of these reports are authored by scientific teams of universities or government agencies, describing years of experimentation and subsequent routine applications in larger forms. Resulting savings in the use of chemicals, of energy, and of equipment are substantial, according to these reports.
But
Contradicting these descriptions originating from Eastern countries are a number of reports of tests and checks by teams working in countries of the West. No change of the water was found by magnetic treatment according to some of these reports. Some of these evaluations concede to find some effects when long-time observations were made.
In a number of States within the USA magnetic water treatment has officially been declared to be a hoax or its advertisement has been outlawed to be fraudulent.
How can such discrepancies of opinion exist for tens of years in our small and supposedly communicative, scientific world?
A number of reasons for different opinions are caused by a number of obvious differences in the circumstances prevailing in the respective countries, for instance:
- The peoples of the Western world insist to be able to understand what they are doing or using. Theoretically unexplained processes have the stigma of black magic or superstition.
- The West is used to and takes for granted the unrestricted availability of chemicals for all purposes in reliable quality and purchasing price which is not so in many countries of the East.
- The Russians do not have a particularly good reputation in matters of research on water after the disaster of the claim by Deryagin to have found the “Polywater“ in the 1960's (The history of this scientific misfiring is well presented in FELIX FRANK'S booklet Polywater, the MIT Press Cambridge, MA. 1981).
- The Free-Enterprise system permits anybody to take advantage of potentially fast profits with wild claims about an important item, such as water. Many partially informed or irresponsible sales-people give the entire issue a bad name by false promises, such as “No need for chemicals!“ The Correct statement would be: “Chemicals become more effective in magnetically treated water, so that one needs chemicals in reduced amounts.“
(As described by Russian papers)
A number of conditions are given in the Russian papers about the
details
of their experiences; here are a few:
- The water to be treated has to move across magnetic fields not stronger than 1000 to 2000 Oersted.
- For a certain flow-velocity the effect is a maximum.
- It usually works better for water of a lower temperature.
- Some small changes of the physical constants of the water last only for a few minutes.
- The capability of the water to prevent formation of hard lime scale may last for up to 2 days.
- Instead of forming hard lime scale (“Slake“) clinging to the walls of the container, the calcium carbonate of magnetically treated water forms a soft sludge (“Shlam“), flowing with the water.
- Reliable observations of the effects of the magnetic treatment require several weeks. Many attempts of faster results have not always been conclusive.
- The magnetically treated water is able to dissolve formerly deposited lime scale.
- Soil can be de-salinated.
- Harvests are significantly improved in quantity and quality.
Prospects.
Confronted with the challenging discrepancy between 400+ computer
references
of papers from the East and a score of opposing, critical surveys from
Western countries, we probed into the matter experimentally. We had the
facilities of the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, at
our
disposal, where the author has been teaching Physics for 10 years, and
acoustics just at this time. The author had been working in materials
research
for most of his professional life, permanent magnetism and
crystallography
being his specialities. He was familiar with the many unsolved puzzles
of water by his early works as a physics student in Cottingen, Germany.
Why is there lime scale?
The formation of hard lime scale at the container walls by the CaCO3
content of water is a consequence of the scarcity of nucleation centers
in ordinary water. When the concentration of the CaCO3 exceeds the
solubility,
the solidification can begin only at appropriate starting points most
of
the time at foreign matter. If no foreign matter is present in the form
of particles in the liquid, solidification can start only at the walls
of the container. Ordinary water tends to surround any foreign
particulate
with complexes of 100 to 200 water molecules each. The water molecules
agglomerate around every foreign particle in ordinary water. They form
cages around them which makes them ineffective as nuclei. Then, the
container
walls are the only non-water substances available. The resulting
crystals
are of the dendritic mode. They are characterized by few starting
points
attached firmly to the wall and extended systems of crystals clinging
to
one another and to the wall around the starting point. The dendritic
crystallization
mode is the initiation of the formation of hard lime scale which, if
further
solidification of the mineral occurs, grows layer over layer on the
first
set of dendrites.
Early detection of lime scale.
Microscopic observation of the beginning of crystallization in the
form of dendrites reveals the tendency for scale formation immediately.
We placed drops of water on glass slides and permitted the water to
evaporate
under observation with magnifications from 50 to 400 times. The
microscope
was equipped with polarizer and analyzer in order to improve the
contrast
for the optically active CaCO3 crystals. We compared drops of ordinary
water as it came from the tap with drops of the same water after it had
passed through magnetic fields; the drops were evaporating side by side
on the same glass slide under identical conditions.
Magnetic effects?
The area formerly covered with the water is now covered with a lattice
of thin dendritic crystals, the rim of the drop is studded with a
number
of thick, strongly light-polarizing dendritic crystals which had grown
each from one point at the glass on the periphery of the drop. These
crystals
were firmly attached to the glass of the slide; they fractured if one
attempted
to dislocate them with a microscopic needle. This entire drop periphery
contained 124 such prominent crystal systems.
The entire drop circumference contained 41 such crystals. So: The
number
of these crystals which had grown on the glass was reduced by about two
thirds by the magnetic treatment of this water. The effectivity of the
treatment with respect to reduction of such glass-attached crystals was
therefore 67%. Assuming that these crystals are the start of scale
formation,
the magnetic treatment would have had an effectivity of 67%.
An economical quantitative method.
This simple method of comparing the microscopic crystal count without
and with the magnetic treatment permits within hours a quantitative
estimate
of the effectivity of the treatment with regard to scale reduction. The
counting is greatly facilitated by the fact that in a circular water
drop
on a glass slide, almost the entire mineral matter solidifies at the
outer
circumference of the drop. This was found to be caused by a convection
within every circular drop of evaporating water. This convection is
caused
by the evaporation cooling at the surface of the drop; it transports
the
heavier substances within the drop radially from the center to the
outer
perimeter of the drop where they become concentrated and solidified.
Furthermore,
after counting all crystals of the entire perimeter of many drops it
was
found that the distribution of the crystals along the perimeter is even
enough that the crystal count within a section of only 1/12 of the
entire
drop is usually representative for the entire drop.
With this straight forward and economical working scheme we
investigated
the effectivity of magnetic fields for various flow velocities, for
various
numbers of magnets, for different pole arrangements and for different
waters.
First findings.
The relationship between effectivity and flow velocity had in almost
all cases a maximum for one velocity. The plot of the values had the
shapes
of resonance curves. Variations of the distances between the magnets
confirmed
the relation between the flow velocity and the sequence of the fields
crossed
by the water, as indicated by the two curves.
Magnetic arrangement.
Hundreds of field arrangements have been tested with a number of
different
water types. Maximum effectivity was achieved with arrangements where
the
fields originated from simple, ring-shaped permanent magnets of barium
ferrite of a medium grade. The arrangement was granted a US Patent in
1981.
By “tuning“ such a device to a certain water velocity the effectivity
of
such a device could be brought close to 100% with 8 ring-magnets. Water
which contains a large amount of admixtures shows additional effects if
it passes repeatedly through a magnetic device. The admixed algicides,
bactericides, and softening chemicals produce an extended dendritic
crystallization
over the entire area of the evaporated drop.
The formerly hidden foreign particle becomes available to the over
concentrated calcium carbonate, so that the dissolved calcium carbonate
diffuses to this particle equally from all sides simultaneously. So,
the
typical circular disk shape of a seeded crystal appears. If the
effectivity
of the magnetic treatment was high, no calcium carbonate needs to wait
to diffuse to the container wall in order to solidify. Therefore
reduction
of the hard scale formation can be understood as an internal seeding
effect
in the magnetically treated water.
Entropy/Energy
Skeptics might doubt this process to be possible because the former
mixture of liquid water and liquid calcium carbonate is being turned
into
liquid water and separated, solid calcium carbonate. This unmixing
means
a lowering of the entropy of the system. Any entropy lowering requires
the expense of energy which cannot come from the permanent magnets. The
needed energy can only be delivered by the kinetic energy of the
flowing
water. For this reason, no effect can be expected if the water does not
move.
Can this process also accomplish the often doubted
claim of removal
of formerly deposited hard lime scale?
Having no restriction for the solidification of the calcium carbonate
thel iquid water is soon depleted of dissolved calcium carbonate.
Having
some of the large cage-clusters in pieces the depleted water is
particularly
active (reduced viscosity and surface tension). If the water streams
passed
calcium deposits, it replenishes its calcium carbonate content by
dissolving
stationary solid calcium carbonate. It may be mentioned here, that in
many
cases of rather thick deposits, the dissolving does not precede
piecemeal
from the outer layer, as the customary acid washes do. The magnetically
treated water rather weakens the bond between the wall and the calcium
carbonate, so that the scale breaks off in rather large pieces from the
walls on which they had grown. This dissolving process may take several
days or even weeks. But under advantageous circumstances only hours may
be required to loosen old, hard deposits and render them removable.
Can water have a memory?
According to many reports of success, the water retains its capability
of reducing scale for up to 2 days. Critical comments try to make this
fact appear to be absurd by calling it a “memory“ of the water for its
“magnetic experience.“ We realize that the treated water has its
specific
scale reducing capability as long as its calcium carbonate is in the
solid
form of the inert micro crystals.
We have investigated these crystals with high magnification for many
different waters and varied treatments. Using the interference colors
of
the polarized light the thickness of the disk-shaped crystals can be
estimated
to be from 0.1p. to 2.4p. (About 4 times the wavelength of red light).
Transformation in the solid state.
With hundreds of evaporated drops of different waters under continuous
observation before and after various treatments, it is one of the most
astounding findings that these dry, seemingly immobile crystals,
sitting
on the glass slides, keep changing their mode for weeks in their solid
state.
Most significant is the transformation of the disk-shaped circular
crystal platelets. After about 20 hours they develop holes in their
centers
and some of their matter turns into thin needles bundled up at the
location
of the disk. The disk-shape is a meta-stable crystal form of calcium
carbonate;
it transforms into the more stable form of acicular crystals within
days.
These needle-shaped crystals then dissolve also, most of them last only
2 or 3 days. That is the reason for the fact that the scale-reducing
properties
of the treated water last for 2 days only.
For more research.
Many questions remain for more investigations. The influence of
temperature
has not been investigated as yet. It can only be assumed to be of
essence
according to Russian reports. Also, the type of the water from
different
sources seems to be of importance. Some mountain spring waters require
particularly well adjusted magnet sequences in order to be effective.
According
to findings by geologists about the type of mountain water coming from
narrow spaces of defect structures within mineral deposits, such water
may have formed only few complexes of a specific size. Therefore the
required
resonance is a narrow one and therefore difficult to achieve.
The effectivity of the magnetic treatment may also be
influenced by
certain mineral contents of the water - such as silicates - which
appear
to interfere with the magnetic treatment.
Freshly fallen rainwater did not show much effect from the magnetic
treatment. It has been found to contain as many seeded disc-shaped
crystals
as water after the magnetic treatment! It is believed that the
raindrops
passing on their way down through the electric fields of the clouds may
undergo a sort of natural treatment with electric fields.
The actual physical changes of the water.
Another wide open field of questions remains to be investigated; that
are the short-lived effects of magnetic fields on the physical
constants
of the water. These effects are so minute that their measurements are
beset
with uncertainties. Yet their effects for the usefulness of the water
are
often of great importance, as for instance the surface tension which
determines
many parameters of the water quality. A number of experiences are
reported
from many sides, and some of our own observations with respect to these
changes in the physical structure of liquid water will be mentioned in
the next section.
Learning more about liquid water.
Assuming that the interactions between magnetic fields and moving water
are of the nature which are here proposed, the study of magnetic water
treatment opens new avenues for the study of the structure of liquid
water.
So far, no systematic study has been attempted of this issue. Nobody
doubts
the overwhelming importance of the use of water for virtually every
human
endeavour, yet there is no correlation which could oversee all the many
separate researches into water by the various users. (In the 6 volumes
of his comprehensive treatise “WATER,“ Felix Franks decries this fact
and
has tried in his lifetime to change this lack of concerted effort.) The
magnetic water treatment issue might be one way to make the few known
facts
of the physical structure of water more generally available. One
important
step in this respect is that the general public learns that there are
fundamental
problems with the physical structure of water.
At this time, even the more sophisticated users and investigators of
water think most of the time only in chemical terms of the water.
Almost
without exception, “testing of water“ is considered a chemical
analysis.
Understanding the nature of the magnetic treatment of water as to be
only
a phase-change of some components of the water, it is evident that any
chemical analysis of the water before and after the treatment cannot
possibly
show a change. The magnetic treatment does not actually add or remove
anything
from the water. A standard chemical analysis brings all the substances
into an all over dissolved state, thusly undoing the effects of the
magnetic
treatment. Many negative test results have been published because of
this
exclusively chemical thinking.
Again, it has to be said that many of these misconceptions have their
origin in the misrepresentation of the method by insufficiently trained
sales personnel. They try to compare the effects of the magnetic
devices
with softening chemicals or ion exchangers. So, the water users are
disappointed
and consider the entire issue a swindle.
What are the Consequences for Future Water Usage For
Industries?
Simple magnetic treatment units with their best effectivity at a fixed
water flow rate serve with advantage in such installations which
require
a constant flow rate. The size of the treatment unit can be selected to
fit the exact requirement of the machinery.
Very small units may serve in drip irrigation at every separate outlet
with one gallon/hour flow rate, or a larger unit may be used for the
entire
irrigation system. Ice machines, solar panel, steam cleaners may have a
precisely fitted magnetic unit permanently built in. Without it they
would
plug up within a few weeks of use and would have then to be washed out
with acid to remove the accumulated hard lime scale. The built-in
magnetic
units keep these machines running for many months without an acid wash.
In the case of steam cleaners, an additional benefit results from the
lessened surface tension of the magnetically treated water. Oral,
unpublished
reports of increased cleaning power of detergents confirm the
microscopically
found change of the water-detergent mixture. Instead of the drop
circumference
which is usually well defined by the surface tension, the treated water
wets the glass surface much better improving the activity of the added
detergent.
Another potential application of magnetic water treatment has been
looked into for the oil industry. The fossil water which comes up with
the oil is extremely heavy with minerals. Its separation from the oil
and
subsequent replacement under ground can be facilitated by magnetic
treatment.
Some preliminary investigation (non-published) was successful for one
narrow range of flow rate. The massive dendritic crystal growth has
been
replaced with a multitude of small, rectangular crystals. Much further
investigation is needed to reap the potential benefits from magnetic
water
treatment for a number of problems of the oil industry. As for instance
a better separation of the oil from the water.
Magnetic
Treatment of Water and its application to agriculture - Lin
By Dr. In controlled large-scale field experiments it was found that magnetic treatment affects the quality of irrigation water. It was shown that treated water contributes to an increase in farm yields in crop farming, yield being expressed in quantity and quality of the produce añd in the specific economic contribution. The level of return in individual farms depends on three key factors: the type of equipment, the water quality, and the mode of operation of the apparatus. In this work reference is made to the principles of the method, the range of possible applications in agriculture, and a report on field observations.
Sporadic references can be found in professional and popular literature to exposure of irrigation water to external force fields (mechanical, hydraulic, ultrasonic, electric, magnetic) with descriptions of resulting improvement in field—crop yields— vegetables, fruits, etc.
As regards magnetic treatment, it was reported in use in Eastern Block countries like U.S.S.R. and
Five years ago, following infrastructure studies, a research program was drawn up and a large scale series of field experiments was initiated, with a view to examining the effect of this treatment on agricultural yields in
Water is a cardinal factor in crop farming, involving a wide range of aspects:
- Quality and quantity; constituents (solutes, suspensoids) and the mode of their presence.
- Mode of delivery; type of irrigation system (with or without inclusion of fertilizer in the stream).
- Irrigation schedule; distribution of the water in the soil, mode of penetration and migration.
- Use of sensors and regulatory devices, with a view to control of the mass—transfer rate in the porous medium (soil) and for delivery of the water at the appropriate location and time.
· purification pretreatment (filtration, ion exchange, RO, hydrocycloning, etc).
Controlled quality and delivery of the water made for improved crop yields. It is common knowledge that irrigation played a strategic role in the on—going process of evolution and in the development of civilization, and is the cornerstone of all agrarian planning. As a “universal” fluid substance, it has unique properties and a specific structure directly related to the hydrogen bond. The two hydrogens and the single oxygen are arranged non— rectilinearly, with a bond angle of 104.5 degrees. The abnormal physical properties of water include [31:
- Negative volume change during fusion.
- Maximum specific gravity at 4 degrees C.
- Minimum isothermal compression at 46 degrees C.
- Multiple polymorphism.
- High dielectric constant, surface tension and dissolution capacity.
- Fusion and boiling points relatively high for a non-metallic, non ionic material with a relatively low molecular weight.
- High mobility of hydrogen and hydroxyl ions.
· Reduced evaporation loss and reduced mineral accumulation of the surface.
· No surface runoff; no danger of accidental damage by animals or machinery.
· Absorption variability over the surface —irrelevant.
· Negligible effect of temperature on uniformity of distribution.
· Vertical percolation controllable through timing.
Reduced wear of piping.
The objective here is increased yields, improved quality, and higher utilization efficiency of the irrigation water. The proposed magnetic treatment of irrigation and drinking water is intended for exactly the same purposes.
The treatment is essentially physical, and its intensity increases with the rate of flow (up to a certain limit) and with the electric conductivity of the water. In view of the latter, it is suitable for fresh water and all the more so, for effluents and saline water. For satisfactory performance, the following measures are mandatory:
(a) Suspensoids must be removed by filtration — especiallyferromagnets, which adhere to the magnet and may cause clogging and distortion of the magneticfield.
(b) The size of the apparatus must be adapted to the envisaged consumption level.
(c) The apparatus must be installed vertically.
(d) Periodic maintenance must include direct and back—flushing.
The treatment is applied upstream, near the point of delivery to the soil, and is suitable for the various modes of irrigation:- surface and subsurface dripping, mobile sprinkler, spray, and flood lines.
Efficient and continuous performance is effected hydraulically, hence the magnet remains serviceable for many years. This is important, as the service life of the apparatus should be of the same order as that of the other system components (refer to Table 1). Servicing requirements are minimal, and so is the annual per-unit-plot expenditure on the capital investment.
|
Equipment |
Service life
(years) |
|
Piping Accessories Infastructure Automation Sprinkling Regulation & filtration Mobile units Mobile unit piping Dripping Pumps |
20 15 15 10 10 10
7 5 5 15 |
(a) Vegetable garden (July—August 1985) Continuous bed—type plots, treated plots 6m shorter than their control counterparts. Identical dosage and quality of irrigation water and fertilizers. Results summarized in Table 2.
Main effects:
- Earlier ripening and superior yields (quantity & quality) in treated plots.
- Lettuce: marked difference in plant size, uniformity and growth period.
- Melons: (not included in report)
-
Squash: continued
production
and growth in treated plot after control plot began to show signs of
drying.
| Crop | Boxes | Quant.k | Remarks | Boxes | Quant.k | Remarks |
| Lettuce | 6 10 8 8 5 |
42 70 64 61 35 |
Uniform quality more attractive appearance greener hue | 4 7 8 7 3 |
31 56 48 49 24 |
No uniformity 15% of plants smaller |
| Total | 272 | 208 | ||||
| Cabbage | 4 5 4 6 |
48 62 44 66 |
Earlier production (one week) larger heads | 3 4 4 5 |
36 49 42 57 |
Slow growth in10% of plants |
| Total | 220 | 184 | ||||
| Cucumbers | 5 11 4 4 7 2 |
60 128 47 49 85 28 |
High vitality continued growth | 4 8 3 3 6 2 |
49 97 36 37 72 24 |
Earlier yellowing |
| Total | 397 | 315 | ||||
| Squash | 2 8 10 4 5 |
22 94 115 48 56 |
Ca. 120 green producing plants at end of season | 2
7 9 3 3 |
18 77 108 33 51 |
Ca. 81 green partially producing plants at end of season |
| Total | 335 | 287 |
(b) Industrial tomatoes (summer 1988, harvesting August) Main results summarized in Tables 3 & 4.
| Treated plot | Control plot |