--- --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) # Science: Unnatural Water by [TIME](/author/time/) Dec 19, 1969 5:00 AM CUT by [TIME](/author/time/) Dec 19, 1969 5:00 AM CUT Western scientists were frankly skeptical. Russian Chemists N. Fedyakin and Boris Deryagin claimed to have produced a mysterious new substance, a form of water that was so stable it boiled only at about 1,000°F., or five times the boiling temperature of natural water. It did not evaporate. It did not freeze—though at —40°F., with little or no expansion, it hardened into a glassy substance quite unlike ice. Despite its remarkable qualities, the polymerized water, or polywater as it was called, was basically the familiar old H₂O. Or was it? The question was so intriguing, recalls University of Maryland Chemist Ellis Lippincott, that “we couldn’t afford not to look at it.” Beginning early this year, Lippincott and co-workers from the university and the National Bureau of Standards analyzed samples of polywater with the aid of laser beams and one of the world’s two double-beam microscope spectrometers. They found that the chemical bonds between polywaters hydrogen and oxygen atoms were always of equal length, which made them stronger than the bonds between atoms of a natural-water molecule. They also confirmed that polywater is a totally new substance with all the properties the Russians had claimed. Threatening Thimble. So far, the total quantity made in Russia, the U.S. and Britain would fill little more than a thimble. But researchers are busily making more, and the process is surprisingly simple. A vacuum is created in a bowl that contains tiny glass capillary tubes; water vapor is introduced into the vacuum, and in two or three days polywater collects in the capillaries. Scientists conjecture that polywater’s strange properties might eventually make it useful as a superlubricant, a substitute for antifreeze, or fuel for an extraordinarily efficient steam engine. Physicist Frank Donahoe of Pennsylvania’s Wilkes College, for one, thinks that polywater could pose a threat to all life. Once it is let loose, the stuff might propagate itself, feeding on natural water. The proliferation of such a dense, inert liquid, warns Donahoe, could stop all life processes, turning the earth into a “reasonable facsimile of Venus.” Lippincott considers that danger slight. But he concedes that until scientists know more about polywater, they should handle it with care. Science: Unnatural Water ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6874840/science-unnatural-water/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6874840/science-unnatural-water/"},"headline":"Science: Unnatural Water","datePublished":"1969-12-19T05:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-21T18:06:52.575Z","description":"Western scientists were frankly skeptical. Russian Chemists N. Fedyakin and Boris Deryagin claimed to have produced a mysterious new substance, a form of water that was so stable it boiled only at...","url":"https://time.com/archive/6874840/science-unnatural-water/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME","url":"https://time.com/author/time/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/6874840/science-unnatural-water/","name":"Science: Unnatural Water"}}]}] ```