Solid State Physics View of Liquid State Chemistry - Electrical conduction in pure water

Engineering characterization of water has produced huge varieties of materials with special properties to meet human needs. Equilibrium properties of water-based liquids are well understood via localized atomic and molecular orbital theories. However, the mechanism of electrical conductivity of pure water has proven elusive. We show here it is trapping limited drift of positive and negative quasi-protons (or protons and proton-vacancies) on the extended water lattice, which is accounted for by the long-range correlation inherent in the Fermion (electrons and protons) and Boson (phonons) energy band theory of quasi-particles in solids, with vigorous adherence to equilibrium and nonequilibrium states.