[puppypower (OP)]

If you started with a packet of baker's yeast, the yeast cells are initially dehydrated and show no signs of life. All the organics and ions needed for life are present, but there is no life. All we have an in inanimate powder. If we add water, suddenly the yeast come alive. Water is the like the straw that stirs the drink.

If we start with twenty packets of yeast, and to each we add a different solvent besides water, such as a variety of alcohols, aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons, aldehydes, ketones, liquid CO2, etc., life will not appear in any of these experiments.  In fact, nothing works properly down to enzymes. Even the DNA remains paralyzed.

The questions become what is so special about water? How can water animate all the organics and ions and then coordinate these so life can return? Since water is so special and a appears to be copartner for life, why doesn't medicine approach sickness and disease, from the water side?

[Halc]

If you started with a packet of baker's yeast, the yeast cells are initially dehydrated and show no signs of life. All the organics and ions needed for life are present, but there is no life.

It is very much alive (and not heavily dehydrated), but dormant, not particularly consuming resources, but that's why it helps to keep it in a cool place.  Frogs do this as well.

[Bored chemist]

The questions become what is so special about water?

Two things, one is that it's an uncommonly good hydrogen bond former.
The other is that it's the solvent that life evolved to work with.

[puppypower (OP)]

The questions become what is so special about water?

Two things, one is that it's an uncommonly good hydrogen bond former.
The other is that it's the solvent that life evolved to work with.

Water is the nanoscale environment, which set the potentials, in which organic life molecules formed and  evolved into life. If we started with a different solvent, with different potentials, the selection process is different. 

If we place life in the desert, that environment sets unique potentials. That which will be selected needs to harmonize with that environment. If we start with a nanoscale water environment, the potentials set by the water, runs the nanoscale selection process. Everything is hand picked by water which is why everything works, individually and globally, when water is added.  Other solvents would not select the same molecules as water and therefore will not be able to animate water base life organics, properly.

The question becomes what does a nanoscale water environment bring to the table? The DNA was selected. It is the most hydrated molecules in the cell. This is not coincidental but reflects a  goal of the water selection process.

One way to understand this last statement is to consider the system of water and oil. Water and oil to not want to blend but rather will try to separate to lower the surface tension that forms. The highly hydrated nature of the DNA reflects a molecule with low water surface tension. The DNA  hardly causes water any pain, in terms of induced potential. The DNA was a molecular sweet spot that also works well as a template.

Water and the organics of life are a type of tension of opposites; like water and oil. The water prefers organic molecules that don't create too much tension and potential. If they appear they will be modified to lower the potential. Al roads are leading to the same place. 

[Kryptid]

We don't know that alien life doesn't exist out there somewhere that utilizes something other than water.

[evan_au]

organics of life

Echoing Kryptid, we don't know that there isn't life out there that is non-organic (ie primarily based on some chemical other than carbon).

[puppypower (OP)]

We don't know that alien life doesn't exist out there somewhere that utilizes something other than water.

What you are saying has never been proven, even though it is science consensus convention. What we do know for certain is no other solvent, besides water, can make use of DNA as a template material. Therefore, one would need, at the very least, to engineer an alternate genetic material, suitable for another solvent, before an alternate solvent theory can be considered  more than consensus speculation. Nature already engineered DNA which makes my job easier. I only need to reverse engineer to figure out why DNA should be the default.

What water brings to the table is the water-oil affect. This mutually opposing affect between water and organics, allows water to pack protein with repeatable folds. Water is selfish and will fully or partially exclude organics, in various ways, to maintain its own stability. Most of the others solvents are too energy friendly with organics, resulting in too much randomness during packing and operations. Water is at the only one who is able to force the proteins to pack is a repeatable way, due to the needs of water; nano-environment, coming first. The packing of protein has been shown to involve no randomization. Even after over 50 years of the first demonstration of this, there is still no statistical explanation for a packing probability of 1.0; water-oil affect.

Below are two energy landscape diagrams which show  unpacked and packed protein in water, respectively. The peaks in the top diagram represent the energy potential between water and the various organic side groups of the protein, with hydrophobic groups the tallest peaks. These will pack first and then the lower peaks will pack next, etc., reduce this potential in the most efficient way.

The second diagram is a packed protein in harmony with the energy needs of water. There is a deep trench.  This is very stable and helps to maintain the protein during its busy day. Water packs the protein with a sequential and repeatable energy based priority. Organic solvents, speculated for alternate life, will generate a different first and second diagram, with the peaks reversed and/or smaller. This results in different packing priorities and more randomness. After making an alternate solvent version of DNA, you might even need to make a new protein replacement to mimic water's energy landscape diagrams, so you can eliminate randomness, as does water.

[Kryptid]

What you are saying has never been proven

I never said that it had been.

[puppypower (OP)]

The discussion of possible alien life with other materials, although interesting, is not critical to the discussion at hand. The topic is whether water and organics are copartners in life. If we wished to speculate about possible life on other planets, the question would become, If we used other solvents to evolve life on another planet, would the structural phase be copartners with the solvent phase?

This question is inferred from the observation that all the structures will need to evolve within that solvent. There will be a natural selection process at the nanoscale. For life or form the selection process will be such that the structural phase and the solvent phase need to be able to take advantage of the properties of each other, so the team can become more than the sum of its parts; something extra called life. 

In the case of water-solvent phase and organics-structural phase, neither can create life without the other, but combined something special happens, that is more than the sum of its parts. In terms of life on earth, what water brings to the game is connected to hydrogen bonding. More specifically, it is connected to hydrogen bonding connected to the oxygen atom. Not all solvent phase based hydrogen bonding is created equal.

If we look  methane, ammonia and water, although  they all have the same molecular weight, their  boiling points are -161.5C, -33.34C and +100C, respectively. These difference reflect the strength of the intermolecular liquid bonding forces. Liquid Methane is held together by van der Waals forces which are weak binding forces, Ammonia is held together by hydrogen bonding, which is an improvement over methane in terms of strength, but ammonia is well below the binding forces within water. Hydrogen bonding is not the entire story.

Although Oxygen; water and Nitrogen; ammonia can both can form hydrogen bonds, the electronegativity of Oxygen is stronger than Nitrogen. Electronegativity is a relative measure  of how strong an atom attracts and binds electrons. Oxygen's has a slightly higher affinity for the electrons of its hydrogen in water, than Nitrogen has for the electrons of its hydrogen in ammonia. The result si the hydrogen of water end up with a slightly stronger positive charge, and oxygen ends up with slightly more negative charge for the hydrogen bonds.

But beyond that, since water is H2O and ammonia is H3N, water has a symmetry in terms of hydrogen and available electrons for hydrogen bonding; 2 and 2, whereas  ammonia is asymmetrical with respect to hydrogen and available electrons; 3 to 1. The result is water can form extended structuring in the liquid phase; fours hydrogen bonds loosely similar to carbon's four covalent bonds. Ammonia's hydrogen bonding is more restricted to nearest neighbors due to steric  problems causes by the asymmetry. This is main reason  ammonia has such a low boiling point even with hydrogen bonds. 

The higher boiling point of water, with is considered an anomaly in nature, reflects the liquid matrix of water having tremendous self adhesion, stabilized by an extended hydrogen bonding matrix; water polymers based on hydrogen bonding. This unique  liquid phase stability is a strict selection environment for organic materials since few organics can coexists with the water and not cause the water potential to increase. Water is always pushing and pulling, tugging and tucking, and even reacting, to minimize internal potential.

Other solvents would do the same but with less strength than water. Water is the most strict, in terms of selection process, based on Free Energy Potential considerations. DNA was going to be the choice even when this all started since it is very cooperative; extreme hydration. 

 

[puppypower (OP)]

To understand water, and hydrogen bonding in water, you need to look at oxygen. Oxygen, which is  highly electronegative (second behind only Fluorine), can form oxide which is O-2. This is a state of an oxygen atom where it has two more electrons than it has nucleus protons.

If you think in terms of the electrostatic force, this should be very unstable. The two extra electrons should charge repel due to the excess of negative charge beyond the number of nucleus  protons. Yet, oxygen can greedily scavenger extra electron density, beyond neutral charge, from almost all other atoms. This is called oxidation. Oxygen can take electrons from neutral atoms to form charge imbalances everywhere in nature. This includes carbon and nitrogen.

The reason this can occur is the electromagnetic force or EM force, has both electrostatic as well as magnetic components. These are separate forces, but in the EM force they work together as a team. In the case of oxygen, even though the electrostatic force aspects is repulsive and unstable; oxide, the magnetic component, due to the extra electrons in orbital motion, is much stronger than the electrostatic repulsion, making this stable in terms the unified EM force. Oxygen is heavy on the magnetic side of the EM force, when it completes the octet of electrons.  A charge in motion will create a magnetic field, that can add with other magnetic fields; right hand rule.  The three p-orbitals (x,y,z) create a 3-D magnetic addition which is very strong in oxygen.

A hydrogen bond has both electrostatic; polar, as well as covalent bonding character. The strong magnetic component of the EM force of the oxygen atom, puts shared electrons  into play as part of its internal magnetic addition. The self ionization of water to form the phenomena we call pH, is based on the oxygen able to magnetically hold the extra electron and turn the covalent bond with  the hydrogen into a polar bond. H2O ----> H+. and OH-. In water, the line between covalent and polar bonding become blurred because of oxygen.  This is mediated by hydrogen bonding.

The blurring of the line between covalent and polar bonding within water imparts some unique properties to water that are centered on hydrogen bonding. A hydrogen bond can form between two waters molecules. This hydrogen bond can stay polar; charge attraction, or the oxygen can change the EM equilibrium from polar to a covalent attachment, while giving up the covalent bond of one of this other hydrogen, which now becomes a covalent part of another water molecule; swap partners.

In terms of life, this switching in bonding states can be used as a binary switch to transmit information, without disrupting basic structural states. The hydrogen bond junction maintains stability as it switches between these two bonding states. These different states have slightly different properties in terms of bond length, entropy and enthalpy.

These switches do not just have the potential to transmit binary information, but the switch also has local energy and muscle. Below is water clusters, where many of the hydrogen bonds in the cluster are flipping switches, causing the cluster to expand or pucker. It becomes a little binary information pump, with mechanical-free energy. Liquid water is a crowded place, with an expanded cluster able to expand and muscle its neighbors, will also decreasing the local entropy and enthalpy. This can useful to enzymatic actions while also reflecting global information flow.

[puppypower (OP)]

Picture a pure aqueous continuum of liquid water where the water molecules are hydrogen bonded in extended water structuring. This extended structuring imparts extra free energy stability to the continuum, leading to a very high boiling point for such a small molecule. One needs to add energy to break through the various layers of ordering.

Also the oxygen atom, due to being heavy on the magnetic side of the EM force, is able to blur the line between polar and covalent bonding between oxygen and hydrogen. This can result in resonance type structures with hydrogen bonding, referred to as cooperative hydrogen bonding, where electrons become share with a cooperative of water molecules. This is very stable. More about cooperative hydrogen bonding another time.

If we were to add any carbon compound, polar or non polar, these will all have a detrimental affect on the aqueous continuum, at some level of the extended structuring. This will cause free energy to rise to various degree within the water. The water will respond, through information transfer and attempt to minimize the impact, often locally, with water clustering around the invader, trying to shield the continuum.

In terms of a living cell, the organic material are numerous, and many are composed of large structures of various compositions, arranged with a type of order; organelles. This structuring is placed throughout the aqueous continuum. The aqueous continuum extends from inside to outside the cell. Water is continuous and can freely flow through the membrane in both directions.

What this situation does is impact a range of potentials within the aqueous continuum.The scaffolding protein help to  set this up as a fixed gradient from the membrane to the DNA. The water in the cell is induced to more or less a permanent free energy potential gradient by the organics.

This aqueous potential gradient imparts free energy potential to the organic surfaces through surface tension and other affects. While information transfer through the hydrogen bonding of water will attempt to equilibrate and minimize the potential gradient. This strategy cannot easily be accomplished due to the fixed organic structuring. It has to be accomplished via the movement of smaller materials. However, the catalytic action of enzymes, by changing these smaller materials,  reestablishes the potential gradient. It is loosely like water and oil trying to separate but each time we add a shot term surfactant to disrupt the growing bubbles. .

When we dehydrate a yeast cell, life is made dormant; hibernation. There is not enough water to establish all the potentials throughout all the organic gradients at sufficient levels. As we rehydrate the cells the potentials build as the organic grid reforms fully hydrated configurations. Then life returns as water tries to equilibrate and lower the potentials within a catalytic grid.

 

[puppypower (OP)]

Cells pump and exchange cations at the outer membrane. This action results in the inside of the cell accumulating Potassium Ions and the outside of the cell accumulating Sodium ions. Although both ions have a single positive charge, each ion impacts water in different ways. This is based on the strength of hydrogen bonding being in the middle between the two. The Potassium ion than Sodium, is larger which changes the charge affect, slightly.

Sodium ions are considered kosmotropic or they will create more order in water than water creates in its pure from hydrogen bonding. Potassium ions are chaotropic and will create more disorder in water than is found in pure water using hydrogen bonding. When cells expend energy pumping, exchanging and concentrating these ions, they also will create different aqueous environments inside and outside the cell, separated by the cell membrane.

Cells help attract food toward their outside surfaces, by establishing a kosmotropic external aqueous environment; Sodium ions, outside the cell. The kosmotropic affects adds more order and stability to the water, than pure water. This means water can give up some of this stability, and still be just as good as pure water. Therefore the outer water can handle a modest amount of organic material in solution, since it can absorb the added potential. The transport proteins will continually lower the concentration, thereby resetting the long range fetch potential.

The inside of the cell, by accumulating Potassium ions, which is chaotropic, has the opposite affect. The water now has too much potential compared to pure water. The water has to work harder on everything inside the cell to compensate for the Potassium ions. One important affect occurs on active surfaces. Cooperative aqueous hydrogen bonding will occur. This can be exploited to provide free energy in the form of entropy.

In cooperative hydrogen bonding, as more hydrogen bonds form this water polymer, each dded bond makes the cooperative stronger and stronger. This reflects a type of resonance with extended electron sharing via the Oxygen and hydrogen bonding. The line between polar and covalent bonding breaks down and electrons start to cooperate over distance in the cooperative. This adds more partial covalent character to the cooperative making it very stable; low energy.

Essentially, because of the chaotropic affect of the Potassium, active surfaces become covered with a cooperative net of water; surface tension. This helps to balance it out. ATP is important in terms of these water cooperatives. When ATP reacts with the enzyme, a water molecule is added to the ADP residue. This water molecule is extracted from the cooperative. The affect is similar to a bolt cutter, cutting a high tension cable; recoil. This recoil increase the local water entropy;  free energy boost for the enzyme action.

An interesting observation is that if you were to take off the outer membrane of a cell, Potassium ions still accumulate in the cell. This implies there is a water equilibrium between the Potassium and the protein surfaces in terms of the potentials needs of water. In other words, the protein surfaces appear to be kosmotropic and adds stability to the water so it can handle the extra Potassium to balance things out.

This creates plausible scenario for the early protein selection process. If you had ion pumping forming early, and potassium was forced to accumulate inside the cell, proteins with kosmotropic surfaces would be selected since they would have an water energy advantage. 

[puppypower (OP)]

Water also brings to the table, a fifth force of nature, that is common to life. This force has been referred to as the life force. The fifth force, in physics terms, is the entropic force or a force that is generated by entropy. This fifth force can be demonstrated in the lab and can be explained with osmosis.

Osmosis is a colligative property. What that means is osmosis and osmotic pressure is not dependent on the character of the solute that is dissolved in water. It is only dependent on the concentration. This means if we used positive or negative ions or neutral molecules, as the solute, as long as the concentration is the same, the same osmotic pressure will be generated.

What a colligative property means is the force, that creates the osmotic pressure =entropic force/area, is not dependent on the EM force, or else charge and magnetic affects would make a difference. It is independent of the EM force. It is a separate force created by entropy.

Osmosis requires a semi-permeable membrane, separating water with different concentrations of solute on either side of the membrane. The water can move freely through the membrane, but the solutes cannot. The movement of the water will be in response to the concentration gradient, with the goal of balancing the concentration of solute on both sides of the membrane. This diffusion of the water reflects the second law in action. During the nanoscale selection process, water picked membrane molecules that were tailored to its own needs; it is the mobile phase.

Reverse osmosis allows us to use mechanical pressure, to reverse this situation. We can add pressure to push water back in reverse and selectively decrease the water entropy, by a very exact amount based on the pressure we apply. This induced entropic potential, can use for various things. Entropy is often associated with randomness and complexity, but water, via osmosis, has a way to stockpile entropy and reverse complexity, which is a good tool for selection processes.

This entropic potential can be exploited as entropic force; mechanical muscle. Or it can be expressed as entropy, not connected to entropic force. Water for example, demonstrates quantum tunneling affects with the hydrogen proton. This often occurs with proton pairs, which is somewhat unique. Theoretically, free energy within the entropic potential could be used for quantum affects, rapid bleed off. The entropic force is not your average force since it is not based on attraction, per se. It has more in common with repulsion. Mutations would be a possible application.

[Bored chemist]

Water also brings to the table, a fifth force of nature, that is common to life. This force has been referred to as the life force. The fifth force, in physics terms, is the entropic force or a force that is generated by entropy. This fifth force can be demonstrated in the lab and can be explained with osmosis.

Osmosis is a colligative property. What that means is osmosis and osmotic pressure is not dependent on the character of the solute that is dissolved in water. It is only dependent on the concentration. This means if we used positive or negative ions or neutral molecules, as the solute, as long as the concentration is the same, the same osmotic pressure will be generated.

What a colligative property means is the force, that creates the osmotic pressure =entropic force/area, is not dependent on the EM force, or else charge and magnetic affects would make a difference. It is independent of the EM force. It is a separate force created by entropy.

Osmosis requires a semi-permeable membrane, separating water with different concentrations of solute on either side of the membrane. The water can move freely through the membrane, but the solutes cannot. The movement of the water will be in response to the concentration gradient, with the goal of balancing the concentration of solute on both sides of the membrane. This diffusion of the water reflects the second law in action. During the nanoscale selection process, water picked membrane molecules that were tailored to its own needs; it is the mobile phase.

Reverse osmosis allows us to use mechanical pressure, to reverse this situation. We can add pressure to push water back in reverse and selectively decrease the water entropy, by a very exact amount based on the pressure we apply. This induced entropic potential, can use for various things. Entropy is often associated with randomness and complexity, but water, via osmosis, has a way to stockpile entropy and reverse complexity, which is a good tool for selection processes.

This entropic potential can be exploited as entropic force; mechanical muscle. Or it can be expressed as entropy, not connected to entropic force. Water for example, demonstrates quantum tunneling affects with the hydrogen proton. This often occurs with proton pairs, which is somewhat unique. Theoretically, free energy within the entropic potential could be used for quantum affects, rapid bleed off. The entropic force is not your average force since it is not based on attraction, per se. It has more in common with repulsion. Mutations would be a possible application.

Reverse osmosis can be made to work with essentially any solvent.
There's nothing special about water and RO.

[puppypower (OP)]

Water also brings to the table, a fifth force of nature, that is common to life. This force has been referred to as the life force. The fifth force, in physics terms, is the entropic force or a force that is generated by entropy. This fifth force can be demonstrated in the lab and can be explained with osmosis.

Osmosis is a colligative property. What that means is osmosis and osmotic pressure is not dependent on the character of the solute that is dissolved in water. It is only dependent on the concentration. This means if we used positive or negative ions or neutral molecules, as the solute, as long as the concentration is the same, the same osmotic pressure will be generated.

What a colligative property means is the force, that creates the osmotic pressure =entropic force/area, is not dependent on the EM force, or else charge and magnetic affects would make a difference. It is independent of the EM force. It is a separate force created by entropy.

Osmosis requires a semi-permeable membrane, separating water with different concentrations of solute on either side of the membrane. The water can move freely through the membrane, but the solutes cannot. The movement of the water will be in response to the concentration gradient, with the goal of balancing the concentration of solute on both sides of the membrane. This diffusion of the water reflects the second law in action. During the nanoscale selection process, water picked membrane molecules that were tailored to its own needs; it is the mobile phase.

Reverse osmosis allows us to use mechanical pressure, to reverse this situation. We can add pressure to push water back in reverse and selectively decrease the water entropy, by a very exact amount based on the pressure we apply. This induced entropic potential, can use for various things. Entropy is often associated with randomness and complexity, but water, via osmosis, has a way to stockpile entropy and reverse complexity, which is a good tool for selection processes.

This entropic potential can be exploited as entropic force; mechanical muscle. Or it can be expressed as entropy, not connected to entropic force. Water for example, demonstrates quantum tunneling affects with the hydrogen proton. This often occurs with proton pairs, which is somewhat unique. Theoretically, free energy within the entropic potential could be used for quantum affects, rapid bleed off. The entropic force is not your average force since it is not based on attraction, per se. It has more in common with repulsion. Mutations would be a possible application.

Reverse osmosis can be made to work with essentially any solvent.
There's nothing special about water and RO.

This is true and can be demonstrated in the lab. However,  life as we know it evolved in water and water was able to select suitable membrane material that makes the entropic force possible, without the need for synthetic materials.

Life forming in other solvents not only requires new and unique genetic material, it also requires ways to form protein equivalents. It also requires ways to induce and take advantage of the entropic force so it can control entropy. Unique protein packing controls entropy so this can be repeatable and not subject to randomness.

The term, hydrophobic, is a misnomer when it comes to water and organics. Water does not have a phobia for organic materials. Water can form weak hydrogen bonds with any organic materials including graphite nanotubes. These bonds are not as optimized as in pure water. Water is not afraid to do this, but can do better if it sticks with other water.

If water has to form hydrogen bonds with organic materials these bonds are shifted more to the polar side of hydrogen bonding; van der Waals. The water can compensate, internally, by forming more covalent character in the remaining hydrogen bonds it has with other water.

This covalent reassignment is based on the magnetic aspect of oxygen This stretches the water to water hydrogen bonding into tension, so the partial covalent bonding orbitals can overlap properly; surface tension. The net affect is water can deal with organic membranes in a way that allows semi-permeable membranes while helping the affect. Water has a backup plan for everything it selects.

[Bored chemist]

However,  life as we know it evolved in water

What about life as we don't know it?

It's entirely possible (though unlikely) that tomorrow, someone will make the discovery of a life form that doesn't depend on water .

At that point it will become as clear to you that you are posting nonsense as it is already clear to the rest of us.

[puppypower (OP)]

However,  life as we know it evolved in water

What about life as we don't know it?

It's entirely possible (though unlikely) that tomorrow, someone will make the discovery of a life form that doesn't depend on water .

At that point it will become as clear to you that you are posting nonsense as it is already clear to the rest of us.

Science is supposed to be grounded on fact and evidence, and not a consensus of believers. I respect religions of all kinds, and I am trying to be respectful of other people's faith. However, everyone can offer proof that life can form in water, but nobody from the consensus of faith, can offer hard proof that life can form in other solvents. Everyone is assuming a random event can make this happen, but the god of random is under control within life due regulating the entropic force.

At the very least the consensus should be able to show a type of genetic material that can copartner with a proposed alternate solvent, since DNA does not work without water. That would make it more than just faith. I am trying to offer chemical logic for my belief.

Let me build a bridge and create an educational scenario, where I will parter with the consensus of faith. In this scenario, we are on planet of that has a wide range of  conditions, such that life somehow appears in a wide range of solvents. If this was to happen, water would have selective advantage and be the last life standing.The main reason is, if you burn any organic solvent, in the presence of oxygen, one of the terminal products is water.

Most organic solvents and ammonia have too much internal energy; reduced. If life could somehow form in alcohols, ammonia, and hydrocarbons, etc., there would come a day where that life would starts to extract energy from its solvent; eat is own solvent. It wont be long until that life would burst into flames. Water based life, cannot extract energy from water, since this is a terminal chemical product, already. Oxygen cant go much further.

But before this happened, the energy bandwidth between other organic solvent and cellular synthesis would be smaller, compared to water. Water life woul be more vigorous.  Water based life can burn any organic as food, with the terminal products of combustion added to the solvent pool.

Hydrogen, helium,  oxygen then carbon are the four most abundant atoms in the universe, respectively. While hydrogen; H2 and H2O are the two most abundant molecules in the universe. Between H2 and H2O is the entire energy bandwidth of water based life. Although it is very rare to find life that can eat hydrogen gas since this is very hot. However, water does have excellent heat capacity.

[Bored chemist]

Science is supposed to be grounded on fact and evidence,

That's right.
Now, please show me the evidence that life without water is impossible.

[Bored chemist]

Oxygen cant go much further.

Nor can nitrogen, in a hypothetical world based on ammonia, rather than water.

[puppypower (OP)]

Science is supposed to be grounded on fact and evidence,

That's right.
Now, please show me the evidence that life without water is impossible.

It is hard to prove a negative, which is why science is more geared to proving a positive; tangible and repeatable. For example, we cannot disprove God, since it would take infinite experiments to make sure we cover all the bases. Anything less still leaves reasonable and unreasonable doubt. 

I have been building chemical background in terms of water and hydrogen bonding. Now I would like to discuss some practical equilibrium applications beginning with DNA. DNA is the most hydrated molecule in the cell. This is due to the phosphate, sugar and nucleic acid aspects, all able to form hydrogen bonds with water, leading to secondary and tertiary water structuring around the DNA. Water even forms a double helix along the minor and major grooves.

Although DNA is considered the most hydrated molecule in the cell, pound for pound, RNA is even more hydrated than DNA.  DNA has the status of being the most hydrated due to its huge double helix nature and size. RNA, although smaller, contains a slightly different base distribution and an extra -OH group in its sugar  group compared to the DNA. This adds even more hydrogen bonded water for any given length.

When RNA is formed on the DNA, extra hydration is added to the nucleus water, compared to pure DNA and water. The use of the DNA as a template to form RNA brings the nucleus water even closer to the stability of pure water. The formation of RNA on DNA was inevitable, since it assists in the furthering of water stability.

Organics in water create potential in water; surface tension. This creates a self induced potential for change. This change does not apply to water, since water is already a  stabile terminal product of high energy reactions. The organics will need to change, with the formation of RNA reflecting a lowering of the slight residual potential between DNA and water. 

DNA does not maintain a linear configuration within the water of cells. It is usually packed with packing proteins, which are rich in the amino acids arginine, lysine and histidine. These are basic proteins. As shown below, the polar end can hydrogen bond to water which increases water stability. However, these amino acid also contain organic separators that create surface tension closer to the peptide linkage. To optimize water potential, in the nucleus, the packing proteins become shielded by the DNA; wrap around and pack. 

The water is inducing this elaborate co-polymer packing arrangement to minimize the water potential; high and low potential molecules are combine to make medium potential co-polymers. When unpacking enzymes reverse this and unpack the DNA, for RNA transcription, this reflects a movement down the slight energy hill of packed DNA;  lowering the water potential.