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Re: Wonder water?
New water, directly from the tap, will be supersaturated with N2 and O2
gases because it has been under pressure, and the amount of gas that
dissolves in wateris proportional to the pressure. Also, when water warms
up, the amount of dissolved gas it can hold decreases. The excess gas can
take several hours to come out of solution when the pressure is reduced.
It gets out of solution by diffusing across a gas-water interface. The
degree of supersaturation has to be very high for bubbles to form
spontaneously in the water, and so most of the gas diffuses either out the
water surface or into existing bubbles, which may be initially too small to
see. The excess gases will also diffuse into the aquatic plant's air
channel system, and that input would look like increased photosynthesis.
Just as you see small bubbles attached to the leaves or the sides of the
tank get larger when you put in new water, the volume of the air in the
plants will also get larger.
Paul Krombholz Tougaloo College, Tougaloo, MS 39174
In steamy Mississippi.