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0x62448568…9229sent to0x8011df58…516c2026-01-23·#24,298,721·0xe09f1e7b…2a707a

# Auto-ionization in adsorbed water The oxygen and hydrogen atoms in water are charged and can bond to other charged particles. When water is in contact with a surface to which it can bond, it will tend to adhere or adsorb (ad-, to, toward + absorb) as layers with a structure very similar to ice but where the sheets are shifted by one oxygen atom between any two layers. The water molecules in this adsorbed phase can also auto-ionize, but contrary to in the liquid phase the hydroxide and hydrogen ions will not both be mobile, the hydroxide ion is stuck inside the adsorbate and only the hydrogen ion is free to move around. The asymmetry in how mobile two charge carriers are will result in that the more mobile charge carrier spreads out in all directions by diffusion, a force balanced by the attractive force backwards along the electric field that forms. The electron within the hydroxide ion can be released by oxidation of the hydroxide ions, and if there is dissolved dioxygen within the surrounding liquid water, the electrons can move after the hydrogen ions (along the electric field) and combine with them as well as dioxygen to produce water (and if this happens over a membrane there is a net loss of water where the electrons and protons moved from and a net addition of water on the other side of the membrane). The separation of charge within the adsorbate also favours nucleation of the adsorbate, as hydronium ions in high concentration in the surrounding liquid water like to bond to the adsorbate, and the electric field perpendicular to surface of adsorption also reduces any sideways motion of molecules within the adsorbate and the net force outwards towards the bulk water has a stabilizing effect (the bulk water behaves to some extent as a surface as well). Naturally, and somewhat counter-intuitively, the charge separation can therefore favor the growth of the adsorbate, and as you increase the auto-ionization (either increase the dissociation or reduce the recombination, incl. when the charges recombined by first freeing the electrons), such as by infrared radiation to increase disassociation of hydrogen and hydroxide ions or by increasing the dioxygen concentration to reduce the oxidation of the hydroxide ions and release of electrons (where dioxygen is one of the products formed), you see the thickness of the adsorbate grow. The hydrogen ions released by the adsorbate can be physically replaced by another cation such as sodium or potassium ions, and the hydrogen ions can be physically moved onto a base such as phosphate from which they can be released by a trigger and serve as the positive pole of the electric circuit for electrons released from the adsorbate. An electrical insulator with selective paths through it can steer the path of the electrons, and the paths can themselves be machinery which runs on electricity. The trigger to release electricity can be the diffusion of the substitute cation along a concentration gradient to form an electric field analogous to the one formed by diffusion of hydrogen ions in plain adsorbed water. An electrical insulator with conductive paths where release of electricity is controlled by opening channels for the diffusion of cations along a concentration gradient, and where the dioxygen released during the oxidation of hydroxide is released into the membrane itself, so that the same dioxygen can be used in the positive pole reaction along with the hydrogen ions (that had been moved onto a base that could be a phosphate) to produce water.

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Water adsorbs to surfaces it can hydrogen bond to, and in the adsorbed phase the mobility of the ions that form by auto-ionization is asymmetric, the hydroxide ion is stuck within the adsorbate while the hydrogen ion is free to move. Thus, the hydrogen ion spreads out by diffusion, in equilibrium with the drift current from the resulting electric field (backwards towards the then negatively charged adsorbate). If there is dioxygen (O2) in the surrounding water, hydroxide ions occasionally break down into electrons, dioxygen and water, and the electrons move to combine with the hydrogen ions and dioxygen to form water. This consumes one water and produces one water - thus there is no change in quantity within the container. But this same process can happen over a membrane, into another container. If the surface that water is adsorbed to is permeable to protons and electrons, and there is dioxygen on the other side of the surface, protons will tend to diffuse over the membrane and the dioxygen and protons will occasionally accept electrons from hydroxide ions that break down in the adsorbate on the other side, thus one water is produced in the new compartment and one water is lost in the previous compartment. The same reaction that spontaneously happens within the adsorbate and bulk water in a compartment - when you add a separate compartment, will tend to move water. Naturally, if you have adsorbate on both sides of the membrane, the side with more adsorbate will tend to more frequently spontaneously produce water on the side with less adsorbate, compared to the side with less adsorbate. Adsorbate, like ice, is impaired by salt, so if you have salt water in one compartment and fresh water in the other, you will tend to produce water in the salt water compartment and consume it in the fresh water compartment. Likewise, the adsorbate is denser than liquid water thus an increase in pressure will increase the amount. The tendency for protons to move across the membrane (and thus for the likelihood that the water production happens in the new compartment) can also be increased by reducing the size of the first container. The electro-chemical reactions in osmosis (as described above) require dioxygen for the positive pole in the circuit (where the electrons flow to). It is also symmetric, and equal amount of dioxygen is consumed on one side and produced on the other. Thus, it can happen back and forth. But what if you were to invert the architecture, such that the dioxygen is released in between the adsorbates rather than away from them? Such architecture requires that the membrane in between the compartments is containing the hydrogen ions (as they have to be in proximity to the dioxygen to combine with electrons), and that it is capable of providing space for dioxygen. You would need a base that holds the hydrogen ions, and some form of medium for the membrane itself which lets dioxygen pass through it while water cannot. With such a membrane, it can be assumed (for electron release to hydrogen ions on the other side) that the release of dioxygen and electrons from hydroxide would happen inwards towards the membrane rather than on the outside, as the reaction would be in closer proximity to the hydrogen ions on the other side. With this inverted architecture, the dioxygen released at one side can be simultaneously consumed on the other (i.e., it can diffuse freely across the membrane). This makes the dioxygen supply at the positive pole infinite or not a factor, as long as the quantity is high enough to start the process. To be able to move the hydrogen ions on a base within the membrane itself, you need to substitute it on the outside with a positively charged particle in equal quantity charge-wise. To harness the electricity within this inverted architecture, you would need the membrane to be selectively permeable to electrons only where you place the machines to which you want to provide electricity. Thus, the architecture needs a membrane that is an insulator within which you can place your machines so that they run from one side and to the other, so that the electrons are forced to pass through them. You then have a membrane that is an insulator, has a base in it that stores hydrogen ions (on either side) and has substituted with another cation on the outside of the adsorbate on either side, and is permeable to dioxygen and also a store for dioxygen, and throughout this membrane you have placed machines that pass through the entire width of the membrane and that serve as conductive paths for the electrons. In osmosis, the transfer of positive charge across the membrane reorients the electrical field to favour a movement of electrons across the membrane. In a similar way, your inverted architecture could have a higher concentration of a cation on one side of the membrane (like hydrogen ions in osmosis) and this cation would be prone to move across the membrane and trigger the discharge of electricity. If your membrane is only selectively permeable to this cation, you can choose exactly when to release the electricity - you simply open the cation channel. To achieve the concentration gradient, you would need the cation to be at a lower concentration on the other side of the membrane (just like the hydrogen ions in the case of osmosis are in lower quantity on the side water moves to). When you discharge your battery on the side water moves from, and power your machines within the membrane, you will end up producing water in the compartment water moves to. To move this water back to the original compartment, you could simply reverse the process. But to do so, you would need a cation concentration gradient (just like in the discharge case, or in the case of plain osmosis). This cation would have to be at a lower concentration on the side water moved from, i.e., it would have to be another cation than the one that caused the discharge. And likewise, you would then need a store of hydrogen ions on the outside of the membrane as well, thus a base there as well. Then, once you have discharged your cell, and then moved the water back out again, you would need to also move the cations back to the compartment they came from, so that you regenerate the concentration gradients.

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Osmosis breaks down and produces water on opposite sides of a membrane through which only electrons and protons pass, and it requires external dioxide (O2) in the compartment water moves to - the endosmotic compartment. The mechanism behind this is that adsorbed water also auto-ionizes (just like liquid water), and the conjugate ions as charge carriers are asymmetrical in their mobility, the hydroxide ion (OH-) is immobilized within the adsorbate while the hydrogen ion (H+) is free to move, and thus the hydrogen ions diffuse out of the adsorbate in all direction, in equilibrium with the attractive force back towards the then negatively charged adsorbate. When there is an asymmetry in the amount of adsorbate on either side a membrane that is permeable to protons and electrons only and that water can adsorb onto (i.e., an osmotic membrane), more H+ will diffuse from the side with more adsorbate (the exosmotic side , the side water moves from). The loss of cations (positive charge) will favour hydroxide ions breaking down into dioxide, water and electrons. The electrons will pass the osmotic membrane, and combine with H+ and dioxide to form water (and this is why osmosis requires external dioxide in the endosmotic compartment). Osmosis is thus an electro-chemical system, that generates an electric current. The cell membrane is how the cell tames the electro-chemical system of osmosis so that the electrical current can be harnessed. The cell uses an electrical insulator rather than an osmotic (i.e., permeable to protons and electrons only) membrane, so that it can control exactly what path the electrons will take. It uses the electrons to power membrane proteins, and this is the purpose of the whole machinery: to provide electricity to membrane proteins so that they can do useful work. It then replaces the cation concentration gradient in osmosis (the hydrogen ions) with two other cations, such that it achieves a concentration gradient in both the forward and the backward direction. This lets the cell move electricity in both the forward and backward direction (the electrons follow the cation, which in osmosis is hydrogen ions), i.e., it can quickly recharge the system again after it has discharged it. It achieves this substitution by moving the H+ onto phosphate within the cell membrane (the phosphate heads of the phospholipid bilayer), and replacing the charge with Na+ on the outside of the cell and K+ on the inside of the cell, in equal proportions, charge-wise, to the phosphate heads. This architecture, besides letting the cell not just discharge but also recharge the adsorbed water outside the membrane, also lets the dioxide released during discharge of the anode move (by diffusion) directly to the cathode side - the phosphate heads on the inner leaflet where H+ is combining with O2 and electrons. The dixoide is released, and consumed, within the lipid bilayer itself, and the adsorbed water surrounding the cell membrane on both sides prevents the dixode from escaping. The architecture thus lets the O2 concentration available for the osmosis be higher than that of the surrounding bulk water or medium, and, it lets the cell make better use of the O2 it has - the same O2 released on one side can be directly used on the other (it thus has to some extent an infinite capacity, as long as the quantity of O2 is high enough to start the process).

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Water adsorbed onto both sides of the phospholipid bilayer release H+ by diffusion, as H+ in adsorbate is more mobile than OH- (and auto-ionization still happens). In lab experiments pOH of adsorbate shown to be 4 (with pH 5.5 upwards 10 mm out, and 0.3 mm thick adsorbate). The phosphate heads in the bilayer (the O- groups, i.e., deprotonated hydroxyl groups) will be protonated from these H+, and store them. On the outside, Na+ or K+ in equal charge proportions to the phosphate that stored H+ is what replaces the H+. The lipid bilayer is an insulator, thus electricity released when a positive charge is moved along concentration gradient (the Na+/K+ selective channels) is forced to travel via membrane proteins. This is the purpose of the machinery: provide electricity to membrane protein. The O2 consumed and released during the oxygen evolution and reduction reactions, 4 OH- -> 2 H2O + O2 + 4 e- and 4 H+ + 4 e- + O2 -> 2 H2O, is consumed and released near the phosphate heads, and can diffuse freely through - and be stored in - the lipid tail region, the center of the bilayer. The adsorbed water on top prevents the O2 from leaving the system. The plasma membrane electrical circuit is built on top of the inherent electrical circuit of adsorbed water, which is what causes the mechanism of osmosis. THe asymmetry in mobility of H+ and OH- in the adsorbed phase of water, results in H+ spreading out by diffusion in all directions. If there is less adsorbate on one side of a mebrane than on the other, the H+ from the "exosmotic" side (the side water moves from) will tend to have net movement to the other side (the "endosmotic" side, where water moves to). The loss of positive charge from the "exosmotic" side, generates an electric field - voltage - and OH- in the adsorbate will tend to break down into electrons, molecular oxygen and water, and the electrons transfer over the "osmotic membrane" to combine with O2 and H+ on the other side, thus "moving" water by breaking it down on one side and producing it on the other (this requires externally supplied O2 on the "endosmotic" side). This inherent electrical circuit of water is why Sidney Fox's "protenoids" showed electrical activity so similar to the cell, despite not having any lipids (and thus clearly not lipid bilayer). The phospholipid bilayer of the cell is not producing the electricity, it is "taming" it. The addition of an insulator, controls where electrons can flow. The addition of the hydrophobic region also provides a way to control the O2, so that it does not diffuse away (and the storing-away of the H+ at the boundary of this O2 storage region forces the release and consumption of O2 in that position). And the Na+ and K+ substituting H+, makes the cation concentration gradient diffusion more easy to control. Na+ and K+ are larger than H+, more easy to selectively filter. And, they are two, providing one concentration gradient in either direction, providing a mechanism to also re-charge the battery. The foundation of these insights is the realization that osmosis is an electro-chemical process, and that asymmetry of charge carrier mobility is the basis of it - the same physical principle that the transistor is built on (there, electrons are mobile wherees protons are not, whereas in adsorbed water it is the other way around). These insights are built on the work of Gerald Pollack and Gilbert Ling. Ling, who invented the microelectrode and mentored Alan Hodgkin, devoted his career to defending the role of water and the "protoplasm". He did so at the cost of rejecting some contemporary advances, such as the discovery of the lipid bilayer. But Ling, from the work of Sidney Fox, that the electrical potential was not in the lipid bilayer but in th water itself. Gilbert Ling was right, but so was the "other side". Gerald Pollack advanced on Ling's work and discovered what the electrical activity of water was: it was a spontaneous separation of charges in the adsorbed water, where H+ would be released from it. Pollack saw this in his lab experiments, with a simple pH dye you see the H+ that has been released, and he measured the electrical behavior of the water during osmosis, and the fact that H+ was transferring (along concentration gradient) over the membrane from the side water moved from (exosmotic side) to where water moved to (endosmotic side). From their work, it was a small step to also realize that the electrical reactions Pollack had already noticed must happen, OH- breaking down into electrons, was also happening in osmosis and that osmosis actually only moved H+ and e-, and from there it was easy to document osmosis as the basis of most physiological systems, including the plasma membrane electrical circuit (an analogous circuit exists on protein, there ATP in the protein binding site is what stores away the H+, both combined behave as a base, and it releases the H+ when it is hydrolysed as it then leaves the binding site and is a much weaker base). Osmosis, or "proto-respiration", is one of the most fundamental building-blocks of life. In the lungs, O2 does not get absorbed by diffusion, but, rather, it is produced in the capillaries surrounding alveoli, and water at the same time produced in the alvoeli. In the capillaries, H+ released from adsorbate cause net positive charge in lumen which propels blood, and an opposite flow on outside of capillary will bring back water produced on the end of the capillary (from the H+ that propelled the blood), while breaking it down at the start of the capillary (the release of e- from OH-). External O2 is required to sustain this, and it was shown in 1970s that ventilating lungs on a dog whose heart was incapacitated, you still had significant circultaion going on, the "vestigual circulation" they called it. Likewise, in the kidney, you have "repulsion osmosis" in the thin descending limb, the narrow lumen forces H+ released to instead diffuse outwards, across the thin epithelium, and you then have a separate loop to reabsorb the O2 (this loops water into the thin ascending limb and down the collecting duct, to be absorbed by pressure in collecting duct, so the O2 is moved back out of the tubules and brought via vasa recta to the thin descendning limb where it can osmotically reabsorb more water - concentrating the urine).