Reduced heat flow in light water (H2O) due to heavy water (D2O)

Abstract

The flow of heat, from top to bottom, in a column of light water can be decreased by over 1000% with the addition of heavy water. A column of light water cools from 25 C to 0 C in 11 hours, however, with the addition of heavy water it takes more than 100 hours. There is a concentration dependence where the cooling time increases as the concentration of added (D2O) increases, with a near maximum being reached with as little as 2% of (D2O) added. This phenomenon will not occur if the water is mixed after the heavy water is added.