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WATER CUCUMBERS
AND RADISHES WITH MELTED SNOW
Experiments carried out in the Siberian Botanical Garden
showed that cucumbers and radishes, watered with melted snow,
grew twice as fast as the control plants watered with ordinary
water. Similar results occurred in experiments with wheat.
Why is melted snow
better for plants than ordinary water? Snow contains about 40
percent less heavy water or deuterium oxide than normal water.
Deuterium (symbol of D) is a heavy isotope a form of hydrogen,
but slightly different. When combined with oxygen it does not
form the water molecule, H2O; instead the molecule D2O is
formed. Normally, about one water molecule in every 6,000 is
found to be a heavy water molecule. But somehow the formation
of snow removes many of these heavy water molecules.
Scientists have
discovered that D2O slows down some chemical and biological
processes. So, when heavy water molecules are removed, plants
seem to grow faster.
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