Getting Technical
together to form precipitates. My best guess, based on the most recent literature, is that
applied magnetics and electric fields might distort the double-layer in such a way as to
promote nuclei formation, particularly if certain other ions are present such as iron, zinc,
sulphur, phosphorous or copper which have been identified as promoting nucleation and
subsequent crystallisation in high scaling potential water solutions.
Crystal formation in water flows takes time, starting when dissolved calcium cations
and carbonate radical anions recombine creating calcium carbonate molecules which
precipitate out of solution and bond together forming tiny ‘seed crystals’. These seed
crystals act as preferential sites for further precipitation as well as agglomerating with
other precipitated crystals resulting in general crystal growth throughout the whole
volume of the water flow or circuit. The time between initial precipitation as a seed crystal
and subsequent growth to a size which can no longer be carried by flowing water can vary
widely from minutes to days, or even weeks, depending on many chemical and physical
variables in the water volumes.
The fact that electromagnetic application can accelerate crystal formation is now
widely accepted. This combination of faster crystallisation occurring in the flowing water
volume itself and not preferentially on heat exchange and other wetted surfaces, as
happens in untreated water, is generally thought to be the essential mechanism that
prevents (or reduces) scaling. Researchers using scanning electron microscopes and X-ray
diffraction spectroscopy have measured NCWT produced crystals and generally agree
that these crystals are 30% to 50% more numerous and have calculated masses between
three and ten times those derived from water with no NCWT.
46
RACA Journal I February 2020
Figure 1
Figure 2
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