Introduction: The Impedance spectroscopy [1] is a technique mainly used to characterize the electrical behavior of solids or liquids samples. This particular technique involves placing the sample of material under investigation between two electrodes (capacitor plates), applying an AC voltage and observing the resulting response across the spectrum of impedance by plotting the real part (Z’) as a function of the imaginary part (Zâ€ÂÂ) of the impedance. Alternatively, graphs of either the real or the imaginary parts of the impedance can be constructed as a function of the applied voltage frequency. Comparative measurements previously carried out by Miranda et al [2]. have demonstrated clear differences between the impedance values of high dilutions of lithium chloride (LiCl) and the corresponding reference water samples (water which has undergone the same dinamization procedures but without the salt). In this paper the results obtained by applying the spectroscopy of impedance technique in high dilutions of Lycopodium clavatum - Lyc (from 15cH to 30 cH), in comparison to the reference waters, will be presented and discussed.
Aims: The objective of this work is to measure the impedance components of both high dilutions of Lycopodium clavatum and reference water samples in the frequency range of 100Hz to 13Mhz, using a successful protocol of sample preparation which has already been used before2. Details of the experimental set-up can be found elsewhere[3].
Methodology: Thirty samples of Lyc solutions and thirty reference water samples were produced using the same preparation and measuring protocol. Both groups of liquid samples were measured for dynamizations ranging from 1cH to 30cH, in accordance to the Hahnemanian dynamization method and following the practice suggested by the Brazilian Homeopathic Pharmacopeia. The Lyc solutions were specifically compared to the reference water samples in the potencies of 15cH, 18cH, 23cH and 30cH. It is important to highlight here that all the Lyc solutions and the corresponding reference water samples measured were prepared from the same lot of initial distilled water and submitted to the same steps of dilution and succussion protocol3. Typically three impedance measurements were carried out for each investigated solution, starting with the highest potency. The sample holder (capacitor cell) used during the experiment was careful and systematically cleaned after each measurement.
Results: The results obtained show that by choosing either the real part (Z’) or the imaginary component (Zâ€ÂÂ) of the impedance, it is possible to clearly differentiate the Lyc solutions from the corresponding reference water samples, for the potencies 15cH, 18cH and 30cH. For the potency 23cH, however, this difference is not very significant, as it can be observed in Figure 1.
Conclusion: Impedance spectroscopy has demonstrated itself to be a powerful and sensitive technique for the physical characterization of Lycopodium clavatum in high dilutions. The differences obtained for the LiCl dynamizations and the corresponding pure water samples are noteworthy. Also, the results exhibit a non-monotonic behavior over the process of dynamization, indicating that the possibility of contamination during the samples manipulation can be ruled out.
Impedance Spectroscopy applied to the study of high dilutions of Lycopodium clavatum
