3315: Forms of Water

Forms of Water

|< < Prev #3315 (October 23, 2026)

Title text: The 'light' refers to bremsstrahlung.

|< < Prev Random explanation

Explanation

This is one of 56 incomplete explanations: This page was created by hydrating with light water. Don't remove this notice too soon. You can help by editing the explanation!

This comic plays on the idea that heavy water suggests the existence of 'light water' via nucleon reduction. Since heavy water (or possibly, in this illustration, only semiheavy water) has hydrogen atoms that contain two nucleons (deuterium), and regular water has a hydrogen atom that contains one nucleon (protium), an extrapolation could be made to conclude that a new water variant exists called 'light water', which has one or both 'hydrogen' atoms that don't contain any nucleons at all. A 'hydrogen' atom of zero nucleons would be identical to an ium, a fictional isotope shown in 2719: Hydrogen Isotopes. 'Light water', as depicted in this comic, is fictional, as a hydrogen isotope of zero nucleons cannot exist. This is due to the fact that an atom's element type is dependent on the number of protons; a hydrogen atom is an atom containing one proton, and all classical atoms, by definition, have to contain at least one proton.

Technically, 'atoms' with no protons can exist. Positronium is an 'atom' with a positron assuming a role equivalent to a hydrogen's proton. It is also possible for a positively charged antimuon to capture an electron, forming an 'atom' called muonium which behaves chemically somewhat like hydrogen, with the differences caused by the antimuon's mass being only about one-ninth of a proton's. The antimuon has a half-life of about 2.2 × 10⁻⁶ s — long enough to measure some of the properties of 'light water' made with it, but not long enough to collect or to do much in the way of chemistry. However, neither of these are options indicated by the comic.

A hydrogen atom has an associated electron, balancing the positive charge on its proton. The 'light water' depicts the electron present, meaning the 'light water' molecule would just be an anion, specifically a hydroxide ion (if there's still one atom of regular hydrogen), or an oxide ion (if both hydrogen atoms are 'light').

The title text clarifies that 'light' refers to bremsstrahlung. Bremsstrahlung is a type of electromagnetic radiation generated when a high-energy charged particle (usually an electron) passes close to the nucleus of an atom where it is deflected or slowed through Coulomb interactions, losing energy in the form of photons. This is therefore a wordplay on 'light' (not heavy) and light (photons), as well as referencing the presence of the electron in 'light water'.

Although not depicted in the comic, deuterium-depleted water is sometimes known as light water. The term light-water reactor also shares a similar name. Tritiated water is another isotopic form of water not depicted in the comic, which could be considered 'heavier water'.

Transcript

This is one of 37 incomplete transcripts: Don't remove this notice too soon. You can help by editing the transcript!

[Three diagrams of molecules are shown, each with an associated diagram. Each molecule features a large circle labeled O, representing an oxygen atom, with one smaller circle on each side labeled H, representing hydrogen atoms. Each molecule has an arrow pointing to the right-hand hydrogen atom, with the arrow starting near a diagram. Each diagram has a label below it.]

[Diagram of an atom, with one black dot representing an electron in orbit around a nucleus consisting of one white circle representing a proton and one gray circle representing a neutron.]

Heavy water

[A similar diagram, with one black dot representing an electron in orbit around a nucleus consisting of one white circle representing a proton.]

Water

[A similar diagram, with one black dot representing an electron in orbit with no nucleus.]

Light water

  Add comment 

Discussion

water -- somefan (talk | contribs) 01:39, 24 October 2026 (UTC)

water you talking about?--what's a signature? (talk) 01:54, 24 October 2026 (UTC)

Does light water imply the existence of dark water? Is that just dark matter?--what's a signature? (talk) 01:56, 24 October 2026 (UTC)

It is clearly meant light as in contrast to heavy, not dark, as the word "light" has two quite different in meaning definitions despite being the same spelling and pronunciation. That said, light water actually does mean something in real science. It is another name for deuterium depleted water. Heavy water is where the hydrogen atoms in the water, unlike most hydrogen, has a neutron. Such hydrogen is called deuterium. This makes the resulting water noticeably denser, and has different effects when interacting with radiation, though it isn't radioactive on its own. Normally, naturally occurring water has a rather small proportion of heavy water mixed in, but it is possible to prepare water with a fraction of the typical amount, thus depleted of deuterium. Note there also exists hydrogen with two neutrons, called tritium, which is highly radioactive. 2600:100A:B1E0:46C8:BDDC:7A9E:B10E:B0AB 05:10, 24 October 2026 (UTC)

You have clearly missed the joke. I think it _should_ imply the existence of dark water — the problem is that you can’t observe it directly, but I bet it’s delicious! Dúthomhas (talk) 06:04, 24 October 2026 (UTC)

r/whoosh Despyte (talk) 03:22, 25 October 2026 (UTC)

those are ium isotopes Not without text (talk) 01:59, 24 October 2026 (UTC)

Is the title text suggesting that electromagnetic radiation is simply a wavelength which although not within the range which the human eye detects as "light" is on the same "spectrum" as light and therefore could be called "light"? Inquirer (talk) 02:12, 24 October 2026 (UTC)

first!--what's a signature? (talk) 02:19, 24 October 2026 (UTC)

most recent! MUSEings of black beret (talk) 16:33, 26 October 2026 (UTC)

Hey look, its the titular "new kind of water" from 3109: Dehumidifier! 2601:444:902:40:49B1:82FE:7D0B:1C3C 06:35, 24 October 2026 (UTC)

oh, you're right! cool! 73.132.167.116 19:26, 25 October 2026 (UTC)

Noting that if the 'detailed diagram' of the one hydrogen need only apply to that hydrogen, it's possible that the Heavy Water is really Semiheavy Water. But I also woudn't be surprised to learn that it's intended to show what both apparent-hydrogens are, in any given combination. In which case the Light Water is effectively O^2-, of course. 81.179.198.128 21:09, 24 October 2026 (UTC)

Would the light water be a valid strong base? 199.73.29.100 00:35, 25 October 2026 (UTC)

And would two molecules of light water combine to form hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), which lightens hair color? Tepples (talk) 14:51, 25 October 2026 (UTC)

No, just O₂. 81.179.198.128 18:18, 25 October 2026 (UTC)

On the interpretation that light water is OH^- or O^2-, I think no, the extra electrons prevent this 87.75.45.250 09:43, 26 October 2026 (UTC)

Isn't this light water just singlet oxygen? 122.59.229.45 06:19, 26 October 2026 (UTC)

Rather than hydroxide/oxide ions, my mind went to hydrogen positronium oxide as the next in the sequence starting with hydrogen deuterium oxide and dihydrogen oxide, though I'd recognised that the inferred positron was missing from the diagram. I wonder which interpretation of light water is more evanescent. O^2- doesn't have intermolecular hydrogen bonding, and wouldn't be liquid at anything near STP. More significantly it would be blown apart by electrostatic repulsion. OH^- is isoelectronic with HF, and is more plausibly liquid near (if not at) STP, but would also be blown apart by electrostatic repulsion. HPsO would be chemically stable (WikiPedia reports that Ps₂, PsH, PsCN, etc. have been produced, but would, depending on how much of the annihilation energy is deposited in the liquid, would either undergo the reaction 2HPsO → H₂O₂ + nγ, or be blown apart by thermal expansion.

Light water could also be hydrogen muonium oxide (HMuO). There is a sequence of decreasing mass running HDO, HH^KO, HH^πO, HH^μO, H₂O, HMuO and HPsO (and a longer series if the second hydrogen is also substituted) 87.75.45.250 09:43, 26 October 2026 (UTC)

Could be noted, that the comic uses "wrong" extrapolation - heavy water molecule (and Tritiated water) has more neutrons than normal water molecule, so "light water" should have fewer neutrons, not fewer protons. That could be achieved by removing neutrons from the oxygen atoms, or by adding anti-neutrons, for some definition of anti-neutron. This might also be part of the joke Maur11cio (talk) 13:51, 26 October 2026 (UTC)

A standard antineutron is fairly well defined. It wouldn't make the water lighter than normal water. You'd have to delve into exotic negative mass particles, which might need a different name when using those to create your flipped-mass neutron-analogue. 81.179.198.128 21:15, 26 October 2026 (UTC)
        Add comment