This one sounds very unfamiliar to a physicist. We've tossed this
around, and we think these words are used with a number of different
meanings. Here's a couple that we've heard of:
(1) Perhaps these
words are used to describe water which either has many living
micro-organisms in it or water from which they have been removed by
filters or killed by some type of sterilization. For example, the water
in the ocean would be considered "living" since it has lots of little
microorganisms and stuff in it. The water in the dead sea, on the other
hand, would be "dead water" since it's too salty for most anything to
survive in it.
(2) These terms are also used in religion,
although we're not really theology experts, so we don't know the exact
meanings. (Sorry.)
Mike W. & Tim
(published on 10/22/2007)