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Hard water
entering the Catalytic Water Conditioner inlet flows across the
highly engineered catalyst
element. The surface
of this catalyst element consists
of millions of bi- and tri-metallic
junctions similar in geometry to calcium carbonate
(Ca CO3),
the dissolved mineral that makes water hard. Through a phenomenon called
lattice matching, minerals attach to each other and form crystals. Minerals
in solution
can also be made to attach to
other surfaces with similar lattice patterns. Calcium
carbonate collects onto these catalyst element junctions.
(see diagram
A) |
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These deposits
form microscopic crystals that are less stable, but still attractive
to
the calcium carbonate
that remains in solution. This process is called nucleation
and is very
familiar to those scientists who work
in the areas of semiconductors,
physical chemistry and metallurgy. These
crystals grow to a
size between
.0000004"
and .000004", which is too small to be seen with an optical
microscope. Then they
are flushed
off the catalyst surface due to the combination of crystal instability
and
the shearing force of the flowing
water. Billions of these calcium carbonate crystals, or calcite seeds,
are now in the treated water exiting the Catalytic Water Conditioner.
(see diagram B) |
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These billions of calcite
seeds appear to be more attractive to dissolved calcium
carbonate than those surfaces. |
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