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Abnormal behavior of water: Why can ultra-hot water make insoluble organic matter surprisingly dissolve?
Water is one of the most common substances in our lives, but have you ever thought about the special properties of water?When the water heats up to more than 100°C but fails to reach the critical point of 374°C, it turns into ultra-hot water, capable of changing its chemical properties in unexpected ways.Today we will discuss this amazing phenomenon.
Ultra-hot water is a liquid in an overpressure state, and the temperature can be between the conventional boiling point and the critical temperature, and due to the overpressure, it cannot boil naturally.
The stability of ultra-hot water comes from the equilibrium relationship between liquid and vapor, which is heated in a closed container to keep it under certain pressure.Part of the reason why water has such a specific behavior is due to the strong hydrogen bonding structure between water molecules.These hydrogen bonds break when the temperature rises, causing the properties of the water to differ from what is expected.
As the temperature increases, the polarity of water weakens, making it closer to organic solvents in terms of dissolution capacity, such as methanol or ethanol.
Due to the change in the polarity of water, many difficult-to-soluble organic matter becomes extremely soluble in ultra-hot water.For example, in ultrahot water at 225°C, the solubility of certain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is increased by five orders of magnitude, making ultrahot water very useful in environmentally friendly and industrial applications.
The effect of temperature on ultra-hot water
The properties of ultra-hot water do not change with the increase of temperature. Many physical properties, such as viscosity and surface tension, will significantly decrease, and diffusivity will increase accordingly.The self-ionization of water also increases at high temperatures, a characteristic that allows water to remain neutral at higher pH values.
At 250°C, the pKw of water is close to 11, while at 25°C it is 14, which means that the concentration of hydrogen ions (H3O+) and hydroxide (OH−) in the water is significantly increased.
Changes in solubility of water
In ultra-hot water, the solubility of many organic compounds increases significantly with the increase in temperature.This allows substances commonly considered "insoluble" to be dissolved in ultra-hot water, for example, the solubility of certain pesticides increases surprisingly with temperature changes.
Industrial Application of Ultra-Hot Water
Ultra-Hot Water has shown its potential as a solvent, reagent and catalyst in industrial and chemical reactions.It has been successfully applied to the extraction process of crushing diesel and wood smoke particles, and can also help break down organic matter and convert it into available fuels.This process is not only fast but also environmentally friendly.
Ultra-hot water can effectively oxidize harmful substances during the reaction process and can decompose without the need to produce toxic materials.
In addition, the application of ultra-hot and supercritical water is gradually increasing, indicating potential opportunities for environmental protection and resource reuse in the future.This technology is not limited to the treatment of harmful substances, but also provides us with a cleaner way to synthesize chemically.
Summary
With an in-depth understanding of the properties of ultra-hot water, the technology has shown great potential in environmental protection and industrial applications.Water is not only a common liquid, it is also a key to unlocking many chemical possibilities.Ultra-hot water can change the solubility of substances in unusual ways, which makes us wonder what unexpected applications will become feasible in the future due to the strange properties of water?
