ELECTRON MICROSCOPY OF THE DISPERSED PHASE OF DISTILLED WATER
This article continues a series of works by the authors on the study of the dispersed phase of water using an optical microscope. Previously, it was found that each unit of the dispersed phase is a NaCl microcrystal surrounded by a thick layer of water of hydration, which prevents its dissolution. When free water evaporates from the glass surface, the osmotic pressure in the remaining water increases, which leads to the dissociation of hydration shells and contact of the salt with water. After complete evaporation, large NaCl crystals and gel-like non-evaporating water remain on the glass substrate. The use of a scanning electron microscope made it possible to reveal a number of previously unknown details: the formation of small crystals of sodium chloride on the surface of the dispersed phase of water and the growth of crystals on filaments of gel-like water. According to the authors, a significant part of NaCl in high-resistivity water is in the form of crystals inside the dispersed phase, which manifests itself after the evaporation of free water. The versions of other authors who observed "stable water clusters" in serially diluted solutions are discussed.