## 4 Discussion  
It is known that electrokinetic phenomena, such as charge generation, are observed upon flow of water and aqueous solutions along the surface of polymer materials (for instance, polymethylmetacrylate, polytetrafluoroethylene, polystyrene, polyethylene, and polypropylene) [7; 17]. In the literature, this fact is explained by the formation of an electric double layer and the motion of ions upon displacement of the liquid phase relative to the stationary one, when a pressure gradient is applied. In Reference [7], a \(\sim\)0.1 nC positive charge was registered upon pipetting of water through a plastic tip with an automatic pipette. It was reported that the pipette tip charged negatively, while the charge of the water drops was positive [7]. In our present study, an accumulation of a positive charge in the measuring cell has been observed upon flow of water at its continuous pumping with a peristaltic pump through the injector. In our work, not only linear, but also linear-stepwise \(\Delta q(t)\) dependencies have been observed in water. Examples of linear dependencies in water are demonstrated in Figure 2. Examples of linear-stepwise \(\Delta q(t)\) dependencies are shown in Figures 9 and 10. Insignificant variation is observed between the data obtained in the series with linear \(\Delta q(t)\) dependencies. Such slight variations between \(\Delta q(t)\) curves can be caused by insignificant oscillations of the time dependence of charge accumulation due to the possible manifestation of electrokinetic effects associated with quantum-mechanical phenomena of spontaneous transitions of ortho-para states of water. The possibility of such transitions was discussed in Reference [15]. These transitions occur due to the fact that water is a non-equilibrium liquid in terms of spin temperature; and the equilibrium in water is shifted towards increasing the number of para-isomers of water. Thus, water is capable of changing the ortho-para ratio towards the equilibrium state [9]--particularly upon external influences. The efficiency of occurrence of these  
Figure 11: The effect of an external AC electric field on the charge generation in water. Averaged \(\Delta q(t)\) dependencies obtained upon flow of water through the injector nozzle in the absence (**1**) and in the presence (**2**) of an external electric field. Main graph presents averaged \(\Delta q(t)\) dependencies. Inset displays typical \(\Delta q(t)\) dependencies obtained in experiments upon pumping of water through the injector. Experimental conditions: (**1**) in the absence of an external electric field (“without generator”); (**2**) in the presence of an external electric field (“with generator”). Experimental conditions: \(\Delta U=-100\) V voltage, 50 Hz frequency, 35 \({}^{\circ}\)C temperature, 15 \(\upmu\)L/s flow rate. transitions should be more probable near water phase transition point at T = 35 \({}^{\circ}\)C to 37 \({}^{\circ}\)C [9; 18]. These spontaneous transitions can be stimulated by the influence of a peristaltic pump on the water, flowing through the communications, as well as by other electrokinetic phenomena (such as flow of water through a tapering tip), as was noted in References [9]. Significant variations within one and the same series were observed for the cases when \(\Delta q(t)\) dependencies were described by linear-stepwise curves. Occurrence of these linear-stepwise dependencies can be caused by an additional influence of external electromagnetic fields, which induce a change in the ratio between ortho- and para-isomers of water. Such influence was noted in the study by [PERSON] et al. [19], and possibly, also by other factors. Let us point out that linear-stepwise dependencies are observed not only in water, but also in aqueous protein solutions.