The auto-ionization of water into $\text H^+$ and $\text{OH}^-$ is often described as occurring spontaneously, that at any given time a tiny portion of the water will be split into its cation and anion counterparts. Looking at the process of auto-ionization with a bit more detail, is it possible to catalyze it by exposing water to electromagnetic radiation of different frequences?
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In this link the dependence of pure water conductivity on temperature is measured:
So the frequencies needed are in the infrared range and the answer is yes, one can increase conductivity of pure water by radiation.
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$\begingroup$ And what increases the conductivity is an increase in ion content? Are there other factors, or, is it mainly the H+/OH- content? Just asking to avoid missing some factor. $\endgroup$– NyckelCommented Mar 8, 2020 at 7:16
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$\begingroup$ for pure water , that is what I found. Impurities also increase conductivity. look at the wiki article en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-ionization_of_water $\endgroup$– anna vCommented Mar 8, 2020 at 8:52
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$\begingroup$ Because of information processing constraints (had I unlimited capacity I could instantaneously analyze all information that ever existed, but not the case), if your answer is "the answer is yes", that means you say it is possible to catalyze auto-ionization by exposing water to electromagnetic radiation of different frequences. Since you also said "one can increase conductivity of pure water by radiation" (unrelated to the question), you must mean "what increases the conductivity is an increase in ion content?". $\endgroup$– NyckelCommented Mar 8, 2020 at 9:32
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$\begingroup$ Yes for water . as ionisation in air increases the conductivity of air.. Note that it has to be in the infrared range, the temperatures in the plot are low frequency, not optical light. see table en.wikipedia.org/wiki/… $\endgroup$– anna vCommented Mar 8, 2020 at 9:56