Can Qi Be Described by Physics? A New Model of Waves, Water, and Cellular Energy
Note: This is not my regular fact-based outcome style review. This is a theoretical model written by a physicist explaining Qi. I actually find this type of thing very interesting, so I hope you enjoy it too.
Qi is one of the most familiar ideas in Chinese medicine, yet it is also one of the hardest to translate into the language of modern science. It can describe movement, function, vitality, transformation, and communication within the body. These meanings are useful in clinical practice, but they do not automatically tell us whether Qi corresponds to a measurable physical substance or force.
A 2024 paper by Jiang Jianzhong and Chen Xingyu takes on that difficult question directly. Rather than treating Qi only as a traditional concept, the authors ask whether it might be described through physics. They propose that Qi, scalar waves, and torsion fields are different names for the same phenomenon. From there, they develop equations intended to explain how Qi might travel, interact with water, and influence cellular energy production.
It is an ambitious proposal. It is also important to understand exactly what kind of paper this is. The authors are offering a theoretical model, not reporting a new clinical trial. Their argument combines mathematical derivations, conceptual diagrams, and findings drawn from earlier studies. The paper therefore gives us a hypothesis about how Qi could work, rather than experimental proof that this is how it does work.
Building a Physical Model of Qi
The paper begins with earlier reports suggesting that emitted Qi can affect biological cells or alter measurable properties of water. These reports include changes in protein synthesis, water conductivity, and the organization of hydrogen bonds between water molecules. The authors use these findings as the starting point for a larger physical explanation.
Their model brings together three ideas: scalar waves, torsion fields, and neutrinos.
A scalar wave is described in the paper as a form of longitudinal wave. In an ordinary electromagnetic wave, the electric and magnetic fields oscillate across the direction in which the wave travels. In a longitudinal wave, the oscillation is proposed to occur along the direction of travel.
A torsion field is presented as a field associated with spin and the twisting of space-time. Neutrinos are extremely small particles that interact only weakly with matter, allowing them to pass through material with little interference.
The authors believe these three ideas share important features with Qi. In their account, all can carry energy and information, penetrate matter, and be difficult to measure. On this basis, they propose that neutrinos may act as the particles that carry Qi, while scalar-wave and torsion-field descriptions explain its wave-like behaviour.
This is where the paper becomes highly theoretical. The proposed particle model begins with the assumption that a photon contains an electron and a positron moving in a double-helix pattern. The direction of their spin and spiral movement is then used to distinguish left-handed from right-handed forms of Qi. The authors describe left-handed Qi as positive and high-energy, while right-handed Qi is described as negative and low-energy.
They then approach the same question from a wave perspective. Using scalar and magnetic vector potentials, they derive equations in which Qi is represented by linked longitudinal electric and magnetic components moving through a vacuum. They suggest that two electromagnetic waves can cancel one another while leaving behind a scalar wave capable of drawing additional energy from what they call the zero-point vacuum energy field.
The equations give the hypothesis a formal structure, but they do not by themselves confirm that Qi, scalar waves, and torsion fields are identical. That identity is the central proposal upon which the rest of the model depends.
Why Use Water?
Water plays a central role in the paper because earlier experiments cited by the authors reportedly found that water could absorb the effects of emitted Qi. According to those reports, water exposed to positive Qi showed increased electrical conductivity, while water not exposed to Qi remained comparatively stable. Other cited observations suggested changes in hydrogen bonding and the size of water-molecule clusters.
The new model attempts to explain how this could happen. The authors propose that positive, left-handed Qi creates a spiral-shaped electrical pathway in water. This pathway is said to influence the movement of free electrons and water ions, increasing ionization and electrical conductivity. At the same time, the added energy is proposed to disrupt some of the weaker hydrogen bonds linking water molecules, producing smaller molecular groupings.
Negative, right-handed Qi is described as producing the opposite effect. Rather than encouraging the movement of free electrons, it is proposed to repel or reorganize them, reducing conductivity and moving water toward a lower-energy state.
These explanations are theoretical. The paper reproduces graphs from previous work showing a decline in the relative resistivity of water treated with positive Qi and little change in untreated water. However, it does not present a new water experiment, nor does it provide enough methodological detail in this article to independently judge factors such as sample size, blinding, replication, or statistical uncertainty.
From Water to Mitochondria
The authors extend the same model from water to living cells. Their focus is ATP, or adenosine triphosphate, the molecule cells use to store and transfer usable energy. ATP is produced largely in the mitochondria by a molecular enzyme called ATP synthase.
In the proposed model, positive Qi creates another spiral electrical pathway, this time along the chain of amino acids that makes up ATP synthase. The pathway is said to attract free electrons and change their distribution around the cell membrane. The authors suggest that this could improve the efficiency of ATP synthase, raise the ratio of ATP to ADP, and place the cell in a higher-energy state. Negative Qi is proposed to reverse this process and reduce ATP production.
To support this interpretation, the paper discusses earlier experiments involving a Tesla scalar-wave generator and poinsettia plants. In the cited work, plants received a 10-milliwatt, 6.7-megahertz signal for 90 seconds. The treated flower buds reportedly showed a 40 percent increase in ATP, a lifespan extension of almost 10 percent, and a colour shift from red toward deep violet. The authors connect the colour change to electron movement within anthocyanins, the plant pigments responsible for red, purple, and blue colours.
This is the strongest experimental example discussed in the article, but an important distinction remains. The plant study used a device-generated signal. It did not test Qi emitted by a Qigong practitioner, and it did not study a clinical treatment. The present paper treats the device signal, scalar waves, torsion fields, and Qi as equivalent, but that proposed equivalence is precisely what still requires direct testing.
What Did the Paper Actually Find?
Because this is mainly a theoretical investigation, its principal result is a model rather than a newly observed biological effect. The authors present wave equations and a two-neutrino propagation model intended to explain how Qi might move through space. They then use this framework to account for previously reported changes in water conductivity and plant ATP levels.
Their conclusion is that positive Qi may interact with water and cellular fluid, alter electron movement, support mitochondrial ATP production, and strengthen what they call the biological energy field. They believe these mechanisms could eventually help explain Qigong and contribute to new medical applications.
At the same time, the paper acknowledges the need for more evidence. In the Results section, the authors state that “further clinical validation is necessary.” In the Discussion, they also call for rigorous scientific testing and multidisciplinary collaboration before Qi-related technologies are used in healthcare.
A Provocative Hypothesis, Not a Settled Mechanism
The value of this paper lies less in proving what Qi is than in making a broad idea more specific. A statement such as “Qi affects water” is difficult to test until it is translated into measurable predictions. This model proposes several: water conductivity should change after a defined exposure, electron behaviour should shift in a particular direction, ATP levels should rise under positive left-handed stimulation, and right-handed stimulation should produce different effects.
Those predictions can, in principle, be examined. Yet the paper builds its explanation through several linked assumptions. It assumes a particular internal structure for photons, identifies scalar waves with torsion fields, proposes neutrinos as the carriers of Qi, and then applies this combined model to water and mitochondria. If any link in that chain is not supported, the larger explanation would need to be revised.
For readers interested in Chinese medicine, the most responsible response is neither automatic acceptance nor automatic dismissal. The paper offers a creative attempt to connect a traditional concept with physical mechanisms, but its language sometimes moves more quickly from possibility to certainty than the evidence presented in the article allows. The equations show how the proposed system is meant to operate; they do not establish that nature actually operates this way.
That distinction matters clinically. The paper does not show that Qigong can raise ATP in human patients, that Qi is carried by neutrinos, or that changing water conductivity produces a health benefit. What it offers is a set of hypotheses that could guide future laboratory and clinical work.
Qi has always been a concept of relationship and transformation: how living systems move, organize, and respond. Jiang and Chen attempt to give that concept a particle, a wave, and a mathematical pathway through water and cellular metabolism. Whether their model survives careful experimental testing remains an open question.
For now, the paper is best read as an imaginative theoretical proposal—one that invites investigation but does not yet close the case.
Reference
Jiang, J., & Chen, X. (2024). Wave equations and particle propagation model of TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) Qi and its interaction with water. Journal of Evolutionary Medicine, 12, Article 138567
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