Theoretical background

The basis of information theory is now well-established. Following the approach of Brillouin [3], if P denotes the number of states in a system, then the information memory capacity (denoted by I) in „bits‟ is defined to be


where, if a problem is considered with N different independent selections, each corresponding to a binary choice (0 or 1), the total number of possibilities is

and so, the information is

Alternatively, the entropy function of statistical thermodynamics is given by

where k is Boltzmann‟s constant.

It follows that, for the above expression for P,

Further, it may be noted that the first and second laws of thermodynamics may be combined into the equation

where dU denotes the internal energy, T the absolute temperature and d’W  the work done on or by the system. In terms of memory capacity, this becomes

and it is seen immediately that the energy required to add one bit of memory to the system is given by

where the partial derivative is evaluated with the work term held constant.

It might be noted that heat capacity is necessarily a positive quantity [5] and, therefore, this last equation leads to the realisation [4] that a program written using  bits of system memory dissipates energy of at least

As noted previously, this constitutes an irreversible bound on a classical computation imposed by the second law of thermodynamics.

This brief introduction to some of the basic ideas of information theory and the link with statistical thermodynamics provides one part of the basis for the promotion of the idea that water possesses memory. The second part derives from a detailed study of some of the properties of water itself.

About the author

PhD J. Dunning-Davies

University of Hull 
Department of Physics and Mathematics

Gold medal for research into cleaner fuels at Hull
Pioneering work in the search to find new clean energy sources by a lecturer at the University of Hull has earned recognition from a prestigious association, set up to promote work into alternative fuels.

Jeremy Dunning-Davies has been awarded a gold medal from the Santilli-Gaililei Association, the Hadronic Mechanics Prize, for the first and only structural generalisations of thermodynamics for matter, as well as antimatter since the birth of the discipline.

Hadronic Mechanics, an area pioneered by Ruggero Santilli, is an extension of quantum physics. Jeremy's focus for most of his working life has been thermodynamics - he has revolutionised the area by extending the field into Hadronic mechanics. This has enabled others to look at alternative theories of key areas, such as anti-matter.

It is an ongoing fascination for Jeremy and he continues to explore this area. Jeremy Dunning-Davies, Senior Lecturer in Physics at the University of Hull, who is also a member of the Royal Astronomical Society, said, "I'm a bit overwhelmed to have been given this honour and I feel Santilli is the real leader in this field. I shall endeavour to continue my research in this area in order to help find cleaner fuels."

Click here for an overview of his more than 100 publications.