Abstract
Microbial populations in tetra-distilled water collapsed when cultured in a permalloy chamber shielding the populations from the sun’s and earth’s electromagnetic field, but thrived when cultured in an ordinary thermostat open to the electromagnetic field. Theoretically, protons in liquid water can be excited at their natural resonance frequencies through Langmuir oscillations and obtain enough kinetic energy to charge the transmembrane potential of a cell. Microbes may be capable of converting this energy into chemical energy to supplement their energy needs.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Artsimovich LA, Sagdeev RZ (1979) Physics of plasma for physicists (in Russian). Atomizdat, Moscow
Chernoshokov KA, Lepekhin AV (1992) About the life of Enterobacteria in water without organic nutrients (in Russian). Zh Microbial Epidemiol Immunol 9–10:21–24
Elin VL (1957) About the biology of E. coli (in Russian). Mikrobiologiya 26:17–21
González-Pastor JE, Hobbs EC, Losick R (2003) Cannibalism in starving bacteria. Science 301:510–513
Gough A, Attwell RW, Hardy DFD, Caldwell R (1986) Microbial contamination in ultrapure water. Solid State Technol 29:139–142
Gusev VA (1993) The evolution microbial populations in the absolute poor media. In: Khlebopros RG (ed) Dinamika mikrobnykh populyatsii (Dynamics of microbial populations). Nauka, Novosibirsk, pp 175–205
Gusev VA (2001) On the source of energy for survival and multiplication of heterotrophs in the absence of organic substrate. I. formulation of hypothesis. Biophysics 46:826–832
Gusev VA, Neigel NJ (2001) On the source of energy for survival and multiplication of heterotrophs in the absence of organic substrate. II. substantiation of the hypothesis. Biophysics 46:833–838
Gusev VA, Orlov VA, Panov SV (1998) Multiplication of heterotroph microorganisms under condition of absence of organic substratum sources and dynamics of quasistationary states of population. Biophys (USSR) 43:745–750
Kalinenko VO (1957) Multiplication of heterotrophs in distilled water (in Russian). Mikrobiologiya 26:148–153
Kayser WV, Hickman KC, Bond WW, Favero MS, Carson LA (1975) Bacterial evaluation of an ultra-pure water distilling system. Appl Microbiol 30:704–706
Kinosita K, Yasuda R, Noji H, Ishiwata S, Yoshida M (1998) F1-ATPase: a rotary motor made of a single molecule. Cell 93:21–24
Kulakov LA, McAllister MB, Ogden KL, Larkin MJ, O’Hanlon JF (2002) Analysis of bacteria contaminating ultrapure water in industrial systems. Appl Environ Microb 68:1548–1555
Lavrent’ev MM, Gusev VA, Eganova IA, Lutset MK, Fominih CTH (1990) About the registration of the real sun’s position (in Russian). Dokl Akad Nauk USSR 315:368–370
Lehnenger AL (1975) Biochemistry. Worth, New York
Nogami T, Ohto T, Kawaguchi O, Zaitsu Y, Sasaki S (1996) Estimation of bacterial contamination in ultrapure water: application of the anti-DNA antibody. Colloid Surface B 5:279–289
Noji H, Yasuda R, Yoshida M, Kinosita K (1997) Direct observation of the rotation of F sub(1)-ATPase. Nature 386:299–302
Nystroem T, Gustavson N (1998) Maintenance energy requirement: what is required for stasis survival of Escherichia coli? Biochim Biophys Acta 1365:225–231
Ponomarev OA, Fesenko EE (2000) The water properties in electric and magnetic fields (in Russian). Biophys (USSR) 45:389
Schulze-Makuch D, Irwin LN (2002) Energy cycling and hypothetical organisms in Europa’s ocean. Astrobiology 2:105–121
Schulze-Makuch D, Irwin LN (2004) Life in the universe: expectations and constraints. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York
Skulachev VP (1989) Energetics of biological membrane. Science Press, Moscow
Skulachev VP (1994) Chemiosmotic concept of the membrane bioenergetics: what is already clear and what is still waiting for elucidation. Bioenerg Biomembr 26:589–598
Stillinger FH (1980) Water revisited. Science 209:451–457
Wagner SC, Skipper HD (1993) Long-term storage of Bradyrhizobia in sterile water. Can J Microbiol 39:998–1001
Acknowledgements
We thank Louis Irwin (University of Texas at El Paso), Aharon Oren (Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel), Anthonie Muller, and four anonymous reviewers for their valuable input on earlier versions of this manuscript
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gusev, V.A., Schulze-Makuch, D. Low frequency electromagnetic waves as a supplemental energy source to sustain microbial growth?. Naturwissenschaften 92, 115–120 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-004-0594-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-004-0594-9