March 28, 2024, 03:49:06 PM
Forum Rules: Read This Before Posting


Topic: conductivity  (Read 7962 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Rayan

  • Chemist
  • Regular Member
  • *
  • Posts: 56
  • Mole Snacks: +5/-14
  • Gender: Female
conductivity
« on: June 07, 2005, 05:09:04 PM »
we had this question in our exam:
 
conductivity distilled water = 0
                 distilled water + sugar = 0  
                 distilled water + HCl = 11
                 distilled water + CH3COOH = 5

(i'm not sure of the 5 and 11 but there was a difference, not so very big between the two values.)
we were asked to comment on these given.
i thought that: the conductivity is due to movement of ions. in distilled water there are no ions thus no electron transfer => cond. = 0
when we add sugar, no ions will dissociate into water, thus we also have no electron transfer => cond. is 0.
in the HCl case, the acid will dissociate and give H+ and Cl- and we'll have ions moving electron.
and for CH3COOH, we'll also get H+ and CH3COO- . but can we conclude that  the conductivity of CH3COO- is less than that of Cl- because of the difference in conductivities?
and is my analysis is correct from the begining?

savoy7

  • Guest
Re:conductivity
« Reply #1 on: June 07, 2005, 05:44:35 PM »
think about the difference between strong and weak acids.

HCl is a strong acid
Acetic acid is weak

The answer can be found there.

savoy
« Last Edit: June 07, 2005, 05:45:46 PM by savoy7 »

Offline Rayan

  • Chemist
  • Regular Member
  • *
  • Posts: 56
  • Mole Snacks: +5/-14
  • Gender: Female
Re:conductivity
« Reply #2 on: June 08, 2005, 03:59:16 AM »
then the difference in condictivities is because the strong acid dissociates completely while the weak acid dissociates partially in water.

Offline ksr985

  • Chemist
  • Regular Member
  • *
  • Posts: 67
  • Mole Snacks: +4/-4
  • Gender: Male
  • typee!
Re:conductivity
« Reply #3 on: June 08, 2005, 12:26:58 PM »
yup. there will be a greater number of ions in the HCl soln, than in the CH3COOH soln, assuming the molarities of the two to be the same.
i remain, always,
ksr985

arnyk

  • Guest
Re:conductivity
« Reply #4 on: June 09, 2005, 06:35:56 PM »
The higher the ionization of an acid, the more conductive it will be (because there will be more ions in the solution).  So what does that say about the level of ionization of strong acids as opposed to weak acids?

Sponsored Links