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It has been of great concern and still remains controver- solenoid magnet of the field distribution given in Fig. 2. A
sial whether the magnetic field exerts any effect on the pro- similar enhancement was observed at 293 and 303 K as well.
cesses of living bodies.1 There are, however, two essentially Because the vaporization rate enhancement was greater
different types of conceivable field effects. One is a direct when the vessel was placed off the field center (x
field effect on biochemical reactions, while the other is indi- ⫽60 mm), we assumed that it was due to the field gradient
rect via changes in the surroundings. In the case of the rather than the field itself. A volume magnetic force of
former effect, the concern might be its possible conse- ( / 0 )•B•dB/dx would be exerted on a substance with the
quences that the genetic influence of the magnetic field could volume susceptibility in the field gradient dB/dx, where
have on living organisms. In the case of the latter, however, 0 is the permeability of vacuum. If both the air and the
the magnetic field effects can be considered as any other water are uniform in values, there will not be any flow
external parameters such as temperature, pressure, or me- created by the magnetic force. In the design of the experi-
chanical stirring which are no cause for worry. ment, the water phase should be uniform, but there could be
In the experiments so far performed on living bodies, some nonuniform distribution of in the atmosphere be-
however, little efforts have been made to discriminate the
cause of the occurrence of vaporization.
indirect effects from the direct ones. If water vaporization is
The possibility of magnetic convection in the atmo-
enhanced under magnetic fields, it then changes the content
spheric gas was hence examined. The paramagnetic volume
in the surrounding aqueous and gaseous media and lowers
susceptibility of air, air⫽⫹0.3736⫻10⫺6 , in System Inter-
the temperature of the water, which in turn will change the
national 共SI兲 units is mainly contributed by oxygen gas,
experimental conditions and hence changes the results. This
O2⫽⫹1.8028⫻10⫺6 , while nitrogen and water vapors are
study reports that water vaporization is indeed significantly
enhanced by the application of magnetic fields. both diamagnetic with much smaller contributions, N2
In the course of studies on microbial processes, we no- ⫽⫺0.0063⫻10⫺6 and H2O⫽⫺0.0068⫻10⫺6 at 293 K, 1
ticed a faster drying of incubation solutions under magnetic atm. During the vaporization process, a susceptibility gradi-
fields. In order to confirm the observation quantitatively, we ent could be created along the vertical z axis in the atmo-
designed a simplified experiment to observe the rate of va- sphere above the water surface. This is because the water
porization of water precisely in the presence of magnetic vapor content should be larger near the water surface than at
fields. a distance if the diffusion process of water vapor in the at-
As shown in Fig. 1, an increase was observed in the mosphere is the rate determining step of the vaporization, as
magnetic field of the water vaporization rate from vessels shown in Fig. 3. The saturated vapor pressure of water, 2338
placed in different positions in a horizontal superconducting Pa 共0.0231 atm.兲, in the air at 293 K reduces the susceptibil-
ity of the air to sat , 2.35% less than the air of the dry air.
a兲
Electronic mail: kitazawa@mail.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp The difference in the volume magnetic force ⌬F m ex-
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2924 J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 86, No. 5, 1 September 1999 Nakagawa et al.
FIG. 4. Setup for water vaporization under externally forced carrier gas
flow; 4 g of water set in vaporization cells of L30 mm, W20 mm, and H20
FIG. 2. Distribution of magnetic field B and the index of magnetic force mm. A dry carrier gas was introduced through a stainless tube of 4.3 mm i.d.
B•dB/dx of the superconducting magnet; bore-diameter 50 mm, bore length and passed over the water surface in the vessel towards the ⫹x direction.
470 mm. The cell was set at various positions x.
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J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 86, No. 5, 1 September 1999 Nakagawa et al. 2925
Downloaded 31 Oct 2005 to 137.224.8.14. Redistribution subject to AIP license or copyright, see http://jap.aip.org/jap/copyright.jsp