In Scandinavian mythology, there is a curious legend about how the Vikings were going to go on a sea voyage. The ship was already ready to weaken anchor. At this time the snow was melting and streams of fresh water flowed to the sea.
Here the khersir (leader) gave the command. The Vikings opened a large red sail over the ship. The ship landed on the water. And he got up. The ship seemed to run into an obstacle and stopped. Strong oarsmen leaned on the oars, trying to get the ship moving. But all attempts were in vain.
The Vikings thought that the gods did not want to march. The leader gave the order to return. A rope was thrown ashore, the ship was pulled to dry land. The Vikings left the ship. The leader gathered a council at which they decided to make a sacrifice to the gods.
One of the sailors, old and experienced, said that since the gods do not want to go out today, we must wait for the wind to change, which will bring fresh water to the bay. And the "dead" water will go away. After a while, this happened. And the Vikings safely set off on a sea voyage.
V. Mezentsev in his book "Encyclopedia of Miracles" tells that Pliny the Elder wrote about "dead" water, which does not allow the ship to rush forward. He offered a very peculiar explanation for this phenomenon: the ship stops because a lot of mollusks are attached to the bottom. In the Middle Ages, sailors also knew about a similar phenomenon and saw in it the intrigues of the devil.
In 1893, the Norwegian Arctic explorer F. Nansen set off on a journey to the North Pole. In the summer he sailed from Norway on the ship "Fram" to the Novosibirsk Islands. Near the Taimyr Peninsula, the ship suddenly stopped, although the machine was working at full power.
Subsequently, in his book "In the darkness of the night and in the ice" Nansen wrote about this:
The ship was held captive by the "dead" water for about five days. The ship's speed dropped almost fivefold. But when the ship reached the icy surface and broke through the thin ice, it made a "dash forward" and began to move at normal speed.
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Nansen noted that “dead water appears to appear only where there is a layer of fresh water on top of the salty seawater, and it seems to consist in the fact that the layer of fresh water is carried away and slides over the heavier salt water, as if solid lining.
Interestingly, the difference between the layer of fresh and salt water was so great that the sailors drank fresh water from the surface of the sea. And the water that entered the bilge taps was very salty. It was not even suitable for powering a steam boiler.
After Nansen's story, scientists began to study the "dead" water. They carried out special experiments and were convinced that this phenomenon really depends on the appearance of fresh or almost fresh water on the sea surface. If the ship moves at a low speed, then underwater waves appear on the border of fresh and salt water. They grow to a considerable size, and their energy prevents the ship from going.
The power of the ship's engines is used to ensure that the ship only resists the waves, practically remaining in place. If the ship is moving at a very high speed, then the waves are not afraid of it. Naturally, in ancient times, ships sailed at an insignificant speed. And they were captured by the "dead" water.
However, such water can be found not only on the surface of the seas and oceans. It is generally known that water is a chemical compound of two elements. The ancient Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus considered water to be the beginning of all beginnings. He was not wrong. Life is really impossible without water.
But there is also an isotopic type of water, it is called "heavy" water. The difference between such water and ordinary water is that "normal" hydrogen is replaced by heavy deuterium. Large doses of such water can cause the death of a living being. And even small amounts of this water are harmful to health. Researchers rightfully call such water "dead".
"Heavy" water is a common companion of ordinary water. There is much less of it. One part of the "dead" water is about 6800 parts of normal water. Therefore, it has relatively little effect on living organisms. However, this influence still exists.
Experiments have shown that clean snow water is very beneficial for plants and animals. The main reason is that it contains much less "heavy" water than, for example, river water. Melt water is considered "living" water. During the experiments, scientists watered birds with it. The results were very impressive. Chickens who drank "live" water laid several times more eggs than those who drank ordinary tap water.
Animals that were given "living" water grew better and gained weight. Plants that were watered with "living" water grew better and gave a good harvest. An important observation: microorganisms in the Arctic develop best at the edge of melting ice. This applies to both the tundra and the mountains, that is, all those places where there are glaciers and snow.
Some researchers recommend eating only melt water. True, it is now difficult to find perfectly clean snow. But you can freeze ordinary water in the refrigerator, then let it melt and eat it. There is less heavy fraction in melt water, and it is more actively involved in all biochemical processes of a living organism.
