An analysis using the Nernst equation.

For decades, alkaline water ionizers have been marketed claiming to provide various health benefits. Marketing people use an ORP meter to show that their water is “different” from other types of water.

Many ionized water advocates are aware that ionizers produce water with a negative ORP value (-100 mV to -750 mV or more), while most other waters have a positive ORP value.

Attempts to explain why water has a negative ORP value and what the measurement actually means have given rise to many theories, including that the water contains "free electrons" or a "special structure."

But until recently, the fact that ionized water contains dissolved H2 gas (produced during electrolysis) was not widely known nor that dissolved hydrogen, a reducing agent, is responsible for the negative ORP value.

In 2007, a landmark research study showed that drinking water containing dissolved hydrogen gas (H2) could provide therapeutic benefits. Over the past decade, the number of research studies confirming the therapeutic benefits of H2 has increased significantly.

As knowledge of the benefits of molecular hydrogen has spread in recent years, some manufacturers have improved the design of their existing basic ionizers (which were originally designed as "pH" machines, not "hydrogen-water" devices), to increase the hydrogen gas content in the water.

Recently, new, innovative technologies have emerged that are designed from the ground up to maximize dissolved hydrogen content. These include neutral pH hydrogen infusion machines, battery-operated portable hydrogen bottles, special prepackaged bottles and bags, and tablets that produce H2 gas.

As the popularity of hydrogen water products continues to grow, consumers are interested not only in the therapeutic benefits of H2, but also in how much hydrogen their water actually contains. Manufacturers' and retailers' websites and marketing brochures make many claims about the performance levels of their devices, declaring their ability to produce water with a more "negative ORP" than their competitors.

The traditional view of ORP measurement is: “The more negative the reading, the greater the therapeutic benefit of the water.” Since there is a tendency to believe that “more is better,” the idea that a higher value in the negative range is superior to a lower one seems plausible at first glance.

The growing awareness of H2 as a therapeutic, combined with consumers' desire to know exactly how much hydrogen their water contains, led to the demand for a meter that eliminates the ambiguity and inconsistency associated with the ORP meter.

In recent years, relatively inexpensive portable "dissolved hydrogen meters" (priced at about $500) have appeared on the market that claim to accurately measure dissolved hydrogen gas.

Instead of millivolt units like the ORP meter, these meters have a digital display that shows dissolved hydrogen values ​​in units more appropriate for measuring dissolved compounds, namely parts per million (ppm) / parts per billion (ppb). 1.

At first glance they seem to be a good choice for measuring dissolved hydrogen. However, these meters are still based on the ORP measurement platform and therefore can only measure the ORP of water, not dissolved hydrogen gas.

Although the ORP measurement represents the tendency of water to act as either an oxidizing or reducing agent, differing conclusions about the significance of the negative ORP measurement must be based on a thorough understanding of the chemistry associated with the ORP.

This article will answer many questions regarding H2, pH, and negative ORP, but the focus will be on explaining what negative ORP can and cannot tell us about the water, its therapeutic benefits, and dissolved hydrogen gas content. While this can be a complex and confusing topic, we will explain the relevant concepts step by step, using well-defined terminology and easy-to-understand language combined with lots of graphics and illustrations.

To gain valuable insight into the subject of ORP, we will use the Nernst equation to examine the relationship between dissolved H2 gas content, pH and ORP measurement. To properly introduce the topic, it will be helpful to start with the terminology and basic concepts associated with the topic of ORP.

Excerpt from the book by Randy Sharpe: “The relationship between dissolved H2, pH and redox potential”

Link to the book excerpt
Link to e-book