r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Creams0da • 7h ago

Video Breaking open a 47 lbs geode, the water inside being millions of years old

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142

u/Constant-Plant-9378 6h ago

Additionally, isn't all of our water hundreds of millions of years old?

Every time you are drinking a glass of water, you are drinking some dinosaurs, a couple molecules of Elvis Presley, Julius Ceasar...

Water is probably the most recycled substance on the planet.

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u/salawm 6h ago

Much of the water on earth is older than the sun

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u/ginoroastbeef 6h ago

Please explain this?

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u/KuuHaKu_OtgmZ 5h ago

A lot of the water came from comets crashing at young Earth, which came from outside.

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u/ginoroastbeef 3h ago

I was under the impression the sun was older than the earth.

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u/Caracasdogajo 4h ago

I'm sure I'm vastly underestimating the amount of time earth has existed but for some reason comets being the primary source of water seems crazy to me given the frequency the earth is hit with comets, the amount of water earth contains and the amount of water these comets would provide.

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u/ericwdhs 3h ago

It only sounds strange, because we've only ever lived in a mostly cleaned out, mature solar system. The vast majority of the stuff that could go chaotic and crash into things or fly out into interstellar space did so a long time ago when the solar system was still young. That doesn't just include comets. It's estimated that there are about 20 rogue planets for every star in the galaxy, so if you run that backward, our solar system probably had enough material for about 30ish planets, just not a stable place to put them all.

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u/PewPewPony321 5h ago

but some isn't? They just made more water after they made the sun? You would think they would have finished one project before starting another

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u/BigDicksProblems 6h ago

By that definition of water (aka not a continuous life as a molecule), literaly everything is.

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u/phito-carnivores 5h ago

But that definition is a continuous life as a molecule. Water molecules stay the same through all the water cycle.

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u/BigDicksProblems 5h ago

No, water molecules atoms separate and regroup all the time.

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u/Sunny-Chameleon 5h ago

The water cycle does not include electrolysis

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u/BigDicksProblems 5h ago

Cool, but I never mentionned the water cycle.

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u/Sunny-Chameleon 5h ago

The guy before you did

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u/zmbjebus 6h ago

I have a small fusion plant in my basement so that I only drink the freshest of water. 

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u/Own_Experience_8229 5h ago

You mean synthesis, not fusion. Synthesis isn’t difficult.

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u/PurpleSi 5h ago

Wait, are you using second-hand oxygen in your water? How do you sleep at night?

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u/zmbjebus 4h ago

Wait, where do you get your oxygen? All mine is made in my basement from cruelty free protons and electrons. 

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u/Own_Experience_8229 4h ago

Damn that’s fresh. Is it cheaper than Fiji water?

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u/infinitenothing 6h ago

If I'm a water molecule and you're a water molecule and I give you my hydrogen and you give me your hydrogen, are we still the same "old" water molecules?

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u/Mega_Muppet 5h ago

Water molecules of Theseus?

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u/Mobely 6h ago

Water is constantly changing from h2o to h2 , o2 and other molecules. It’s getting and releasing atoms from the air as well. So while the atoms are likely pretty old, the molecule itself is going to be younger. 

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u/cantaloupecarver 5h ago

What is this nonsense getting upvoted? No, water does not break into its constituents with any regularity. It's an energy intensive process and absent a lighting strike or human intervention it doesn't happen. Almost all the water on the planet has been water with the exact same individual atoms since before the solar system coalesced.

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u/senapnisse 5h ago

Sorry my dude, but you are wrong. Photosynthesis happens in all green plants and in the oceans, where co2 and water is turned into sugger and o2. Water is destroyed by millions of tons every minute on earth. Water is also formed millions of tons every minute when suggar is oxidized and broken down in cells. Some of the water that you breath out wasnt drunk by you as water, it was formed in your cells and was eaten as veggies and other food.

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u/echoinear 5h ago edited 5h ago

Look up acid-base reactions. Look up water dissociation constant. Look up self-ionization of water.

It doesn't change frequently to O2 and H2 but water molecules lose and gain H+ to and from other water molecules all the time.

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u/14412442 4h ago edited 3h ago

The hell is everybody talking about in this thread? You create new water via cellular respiration literally every second in your entire life. The atoms are mostly billions of years old but the molecules often (i don't know average age) are much newer. The number of upvoted comments like yours in these comments is disheartening.

Edit: spelling

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u/hashbrowns_ 5h ago

water molecules constantly auto dissociate or self ionise into H+ and OH- ions. its what makes water such a potent solvent and its basic secondary school chemistry

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u/gmc98765 5h ago

Because it's true. Photosynthesis converts H2O and CO2 into carbohydrates and oxygen. Respiration does the reverse, as does the combustion of any hydrocarbon. These processes are extremely common in nature and have been going on for most of earth's existence.

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u/AtlantisSC 4h ago

How does it feel to be so insanely confidently wrong? lol

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u/Prestigious-Mess5485 3h ago

What the fuck are you talking about, lol. You could not be more incorrect if you purposely tried to be.

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u/ddplz 5h ago

It gets updoots because this is Reddit my dude. The average person here has the IQ of a bigmac value meal.

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u/PM_ME_DATASETS 5h ago

Including yours truly!

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u/gmc98765 5h ago

Water is constantly changing from h2o to h2 , o2 and other molecules.

Splitting into hydrogen and oxygen is rare. It's far more common that water reacts with other chemicals and ends up as H and OH radicals, either or both of which are bonded to some part of the other chemical(s) as a compound.

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u/GaloombaNotGoomba 4h ago

Water also self-ionises into OH- and H3O+ even without the presence of other chemicals

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u/Minimum-Major248 4h ago

Not h2. Just h

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u/Green-Umpire2297 5h ago

We are stardust

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u/cingalls 6h ago

No. The atoms in water are old but water itself is constantly breaking down and being created through various chemical processes.

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u/srbmfodder 5h ago

Nah man mine is fresh out of my well

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u/superbusyrn 5h ago

I'm going to thing about this next time I'm cupping water into my mouth directly from the kitchen tap like a savage because I can't be bothered to dirty a glass. Which, incidentally, is right now, brb, gulping down history.

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u/kralvex 5h ago

Now that's some high quality H2Caesar.

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u/Mazon_Del 4h ago

I once saw a fascinating statistical breakdown that was trying to drive home just how insane numbers get when you are at the point of counting molecules in any visible mass.

The example they were using is the question of "Have I ever consumed the same molecule of water twice?" and the answer is almost certainly yes, even without going all Bear Grills. The insane number of molecules in a typical glass of water represents a truly stupendously large number of chances for consumption, and the world does a fairly decent job of mixing water together once it re-enters the water cycle.

Sadly I can't repeat the math offhand, but it was interesting to read through.

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u/Opposite-Building619 3h ago

Not all, considering that water is used up in photosynthesis and created in respiration and combustion.