Water Respiration – The Basis of the Living State
Voeikov VL1,2, Del Giudice E2,3
1 Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia.
2 International Institute of Biophysics, Neuss, Germany.
3 INFN, Milano, Italy.
Correpondence: [email protected], [email protected]
Key words: Interfacial water, aerobic respiration, reactive oxygen species, free energy, living state, coherence.
Received 7 December 2008; revised 9 January 2009; accepted 11 March 2009. Published 1 July 2009. Available online 1 July 2009.
Summary
“Real” liquid aqueous systems generally represent complex systems where the phase of polarized water, as recently propounded by Pollack in his description of “exclusion zone” water, contrasts with the coexisting, but much less well organized, bulk water. Polarized water is a potential electron donor (i.e., reducer). Under conditions where electrons may be donated to dissolved oxygen, the process is one of “slow water burning,” equivalent to “water respiration.” When carbon dioxide and nitrogen are present, free energy released in the course of this “respiration” can be used for performing (chemical) work, leading to the production of organic compounds, and further complicating the system as a whole. The same conclusions follow from the theory of coherent water based on the principles of quantum electrodynamics. Such dynamic systems meet the requirements of the “living state” based on the general theory of living matter formulated by Bauer.