H2O. Water has no calories and provides no nutrients, but it is essential for the development of life. Experts love to debate the exact amount of water we should consume daily... but what if it weren't H2O? With a slight change we get D2O, a molecule much better known as heavy water. Its applications are quite broad, however, the public only wants to know one thing: Can you drink heavy water? Today we will explore the answer.
When talking about heavy water, it is not a bad idea to review its basic characteristics. It is called "heavy" because the two atoms of the protium isotope (read as "hydrogen-1") are replaced by two deuterium atoms, colloquially "heavy hydrogen". Heavy water has subtle differences in properties such as melting point (3.82°C) and boiling point (101.4°C), while its density is 10 percent higher (1.107 grams per milliliter).
Another aspect to consider is its price. While it is not an impossible substance to obtain, anyone interested in purchasing heavy water will have to pay a more than significant sum, depending on the volume they need. However, public interest usually goes in another direction. More precisely, many people want to know if you can drink heavy water, and if so, what it tastes like.
Drinking Heavy Water: Can You or Can't You?
The excellent video published by Periodic Videos in 2010 not only explores the main method of creating heavy water, but also shares some details that date back to the Second World War, with multiple Allied attacks on the Telemark region in Norway, where the Germans gained access to the first mass production site.
It also describes one of the main applications for heavy water, which is nuclear magnetic resonance. This resonance is very sensitive to hydrogen atoms, and when using H2O, the interference would be too great. In contrast, nothing like that happens with D2O, yielding much cleaner and more precise results.
Regarding the consumption of heavy water, the consensus is that a glass of heavy water does not affect the human body, but the risk of poisoning increases as intake grows. Why? The official description is the "kinetic isotope effect". In relaxed terms, the extra mass of the deuterium isotope slows down the body's chemical reactions... especially those that keep us alive.
Our body has different molecules with hydrogen bonded to oxygen. Those bonds break naturally, but the bonds between deuterium and oxygen are stronger. Their rupture requires extra energy consumption, which in turn makes the whole system slower. That said, some educated calculations suggest that a person would need to replace 50 percent of the water in their body with D2O for it to be lethal..
