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Updated: Jul 13, 2026

Probing the Structure and Dynamics of Interfacial Water with Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Spectroscopy
Published on: May 27, 2018
Long term structural effects in water: autothixotropy of water and its hysteresis
Bohumil Vybíral1, Pavel Vorácek
1Department of Physics, Faculty of Pedagogy, University of Hradec Králové, Rokitanského 62, CZ-50003 Hradec Králové, Czech Republic. bohumil.vybiral@uhk.cz
Abstract:
We discovered a previously unknown phenomenon in liquid water, which develops over time when water is left to stand undisturbed, and which made precise gravimetric measurement impossible. We term this property autothixotropy (weak gel-like behaviour developing spontaneously over time) and propose a possible explanation. The results of quantitative measurements, performed by two different methods, are presented. We also report the newly discovered phenomenon of autothixotropy-hysteresis and describe the dependence of autothixotropy on the degree of molecular translative freedom. A very important conclusion is that the presence of very low concentration of salt ions, these phenomena do not occur in deionized water. Salt ions may be the determinative condition for the occurrence of the phenomena.
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