Page 208 - The Power of Light, Colour and Sound for Health and Wellness draft

molecular system readily adapts to any physical or chemical change in the aqueous system itself or its environment. These changes are measurable and can be used as a source of information about the system, even when the systems are highly complex, such is the case of biological organisms. This property of water – that it behaves as a mirror is a foundation stone of life. Water is the “life conductor” of an orchestra that listens to and reads the scores of all instruments and by its movements leads the orchestra to achieve the perfect harmony. The same properties of water as a mirror are the foundation stone of the novel scientifc platform called “Aquaphotomics” and can be used for various applications purposes, for example, for systems evaluation and disease diagnosis.
The beginnings of Aquaphotomics knowledge came exactly from the diagnostics of disease when in a study of spectra of milk coming from healthy dairy cows and sick cows, the differences were observed at those parts of the milk spectra where water absorbed – at certain water absorbance bands7.
3. Water spectrum – how much light of different energy water absorbs?
The absorption spectrum of water is very complex (Figure 2). The highest absorption of water is in the
ultraviolet (UV) region, the
lowest - in the region of the
visible light. Water doesn’t absorb visible light, and that is the reason why it is bright in the day (70% of the earth surface is covered by water) and we can observe the trees, the sky and surroundings on the surface of the water. Next to the visible light is a region of infrared light (IR).
Figure 2. Water spectrum in double logarithmic plot (based on data from Segelstain8)
This is the light we cannot observe, but we do experience it as warmth. The shortest wavelengths of this range are called near infrared (NIR) and it spans over the range between 700 and 2500nm.
Water is a strong absorber of IR energy9, but in contrast, absorption in the vis-NIR range is several times weaker. This absorption characteristics of water, dictate the applicability and types of samples that can be examined using light as a probe.
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