Originally posted by leg_press what is 'distilled' water?
It is water that was
distilled in a lab or factory.
Distillation basically involves evaporating the water under a cold conical tent. The water vapor condenses upon the dome and treakles down the edge into a gutter. In theory, you have separated pure water from all the "impurities" (minerals, chlorine, bacteria, oxygen, nitrogen, etc.).
The problem is that:
a) distilled water is absolutely tasteless, which is quite surprisingly disgusting. (Yes, non distilled water does have a slight taste.)
b) distilled water is free of minerals and air which is
extremely hard on the digestive system!
c) distilled water is more likely to have an acidic PH than tap water (due to normal reactions with the air).
In short, assuming that you live in an area where water is drinkable, you are a million times better off drinking tap water (even if it tastes foul) than distilled water. If you are worried about the chlorine content of your tap water, just pour the water into an open container and let stand for about 20 minutes before drinking it (which gives time for the excess chlorine to evaporate).
