Publication: Scientists capture the fleeting transition of water into a highly reactive state

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have uncovered a key step in the ionization of liquid water using the lab’s high-speed “electron camera,” MeV-UED. This reaction is of fundamental significance to a wide range of fields, including nuclear engineering, space travel, cancer treatment and environmental remediation. Their results were published in Science today.

When high-energy radiation hits a water molecule, it triggers a series of ultrafast reactions. First, it kicks out an electron, leaving behind a positively charged water molecule. Within a fraction of a trillionth of a second, this water molecule gives up a proton to another water molecule. This leads to the creation of a hydroxyl radical (OH) – which can damage virtually any macromolecule in an organism, including DNA, RNA and proteins – and a hydronium ion (H₃O⁺), which are abundant in the interstellar medium and tails of comets, and might contain clues about the origin of life.

More details can be found here.