What would happen if you drank heavy water? Is it harmful?

Question

What would happen if you drank heavy water? Is it harmful?

Answer 1

Heavy water is deuterium oxide, or D2O or 2H2O. Its physical and chemical properties are similar to those of light water, H2O, but the hydrogen atoms are of the heavy isotope deuterium, in which the nucleus contains a neutron in addition to the proton found in the nucleus of the hydrogen atom. This isotopic substitution alters the bond energy of the hydrogen-oxygen bond in water, altering the physical and chemical properties of the substance. Gilbert Newton Lewis isolated the first sample of pure heavy water in 1933.



Now D20 tastes almost exactly like H20. However, seeds will not sprout in heavy water, and when rats are given heavy water exclusively, they die of thirst although glutted with water.



Heavy water present in ordinary water has been found to be extremely harmful to living organisms in many ways. For example, if a chemical reaction in a cell produces as much energy as it consumes, then the cells will become self-sustaining, neither growing nor dying. This level is referred to as critical mass and is analogous to the approximate age of 20 in human terms. This is the age when the body is most stable and physically perfected.



However, deuterium oxide causes cellular metabolism to operate at reduced rates because its higher atomic weight slows down chemical reactions. In our cells, this dampening effect is the equivalent of aging (and eventual death) and begins naturally after the age of about 20. Deuterium accelerates the effect, leading to cellular putrefaction.



Given that we absorb heavy water by drinking and bathing (two thirds of our bodily water is absorbed through the skin), in the ratio of 1 drop for every 6000 drops of ordinary water, we see that such an accumulation would cause definite negative effects in the body. And unlike short-lived laboratory test animals, our longevity makes us increasingly vulnerable to cellular aging.



In addition to dampening the chemistry of cell metabolism, heavy water also impacts cell division, or mitosis.

Answer 2

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What would happen if you drank heavy water? Is it harmful?

Answer 3

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There is so much to bottled water and the plastic bottle is just a small yet toxic part of it. Privatization of water is a scary thing and it is happening all over the planet. Water should belong to the public, not a corporation that charges 500 times what a public utility would charge for the same thing, and currently there is no regulation to prevent them from charging any amount they see fit. Bottle water companies are being sued in the US and several other countries because they are depleting reservoirs to communities. Communities are having their clean water diverted for profits and it has put them in a situation to either have water shortages or get their supply from a less clean source. You may also want to consider that most of the bottled water actually is filtered city water, you are just paying for them to put it in a bottle and truck it to a store instead of turning on your faucet and using a filter yourself. Water is heavy and it is trucked all over the nation, there is no reason to add all those emissions to your water usage. A few bottled water companies can't even pass CA drinking water standards, but because they fall under a different umbrella of government they don't have to meet utility water standards. Lets talk about the plastic, most plastic is not made here in the US, it may be heat pressed into shapes here, but most plastic is made and recycled in China, about 80% of the recycled plastic is shipped to China. The most important reason is they have very little environmental law, plastic is toxic from start to finish and it is to expensive to make it safely here in the US, so most of it is produced in country that is allowing all the toxins back into the environment. Too bad those toxins don't understand borders, they will all go into the air and water and reach every corner of the planet. Plastic is the number 1 litter material, there is a giant island in the Pacific Ocean made of plastic, plastic is the number 1 material found on beaches, in storm drains and in the stomachs of dead animals. Too many people think using single use and disposable items are ok, because we recycle them, yet less than 20% of #1 plastic is recycled, which is the easiest to recycle. There is a specific order to the 3R's Reduce, Reuse then Recycle. In the past 40 years we have focused on recycling and states like CA have made great strides, we are at a 50% diversion rate, but in the same time we have doubled the amount of garbage we create per person in this nation. We are unique in that aspect. It is a waste of your money and the planets resources to drink bottled water. I hope you choose to give tap water a chance, if you don't like the taste get a filter and a reusable water bottle, then spend all the money you save on something wonderful.

Answer 4

You'll die if you drink enough of it. You do know that it is used in nuclear reactors? I got the info below from Wikipedia.



To perform their tasks, enzymes rely on their finely tuned networks of hydrogen bonds, both in the active center with their substrates, and outside the active centre, to stabilize their tertiary structures. As a hydrogen bond with deuterium is slightly stronger than one involving ordinary hydrogen, in a highly deuterated environment, normal reactions in cells are disrupted. Experiments in mice, rats, and dogs have shown that a degree of 25 % deuteration causes sterility. High concentrations (90 %) rapidly kills fish, tadpoles, flatworms, and drosophila.



Nonetheless, accidental or intentional poisoning is unlikely, as large amounts of heavy water would have to be ingested, repeatedly, to produce any noticeable effects.



In 1990, a disgruntled employee at the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station took a sample of heavy water from the primary heat transport loop and loaded it into a water cooler. 8 employees drank some of the contaminated water. The incident was discovered when employees began leaving bioassay urine samples with elevated tritium levels. The quantities involved were well below levels which could induce heavy water toxicity, but several employees received elevated radiation doses from tritium and activated chemicals in the water.

Answer 5

You may recycle your water bottles but most people do not. This is a throw away society and by buying water already in plastic we are encouraging people to throw more away. The other thing is even tho they say the water is bottle in, lets say, the wilds of Maine, in reality, read your bottle. Most bottled water is bottled in a location near you and probably from the same water source as you already have in your house or close to it. If you want 'purified' water buy one of those filters that you can put on your faucet or get a Brita filter that you can run water thru and drink that. Get a reusable bottle and just refill as needed. The key is not just to recycle but to not use things that need to be recycled. Use reusable. Less to throw away, less to recycle and less trash all over the place.

Answer 6

Heaywater is DOo.Naturally available in water is 145ppm to 152ppm. if we take more than 80-99%w/w it will damage our metabolisim (incase of excess intake ) so person will collapse not only but also our kidney is desined for filter water not for heavy water.so kidney may get damage.

Answer 7

I'm not exactly sure what heavy water is (chemical make up and laws and all) but if you drank it you could die and you might not...Heavy water is radioactive and thus being could give you cancer, mutations, lukemenia, death ect... And Heavy water is pretty valuable so it would be a waste to drink it anyway (if your thinking about it don't do it!)

Answer 8

Im not sure what you mean by heavy water but I do know that if you drink to much water regardless, your brain stem will disconnect and you will actually drown to death from drinking to much water.

Answer 9

nothing much, one would have to consume a lot but radiation doses from tritium could cause sterility

Answer 10

that is a good question