Topic: Why is it dangerous to allow

water near an electrical appliance, if

water is an insulator?
Physical Chemistry
Semester 1, 2015 – 2016
Instructor: A. Prof. Huynh Kim Lam
Group members

 Nguyen Gia Ky
 Duong Dang Minh Tuyen
 Huynh My Hien
 Do Phuong Dan

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Outline

 Background

 Hypothesis

 Experiment

 Results

 Discussion

 Conclusion

 References
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Background

Electricity:
 Passing of electron to another to create a flow of
electricity

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Background
Conductivity
 Electrical conductivity (κ- micro/milli-
Siemens per centimeter) is the ability to allow
the electric current to pass through.
 Conductivity of water is the ions that pass

electricity from one to the next.

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Background
Conductors, insulators
 Elements with high conductivity, which have very

mobile electrons, are called conductors.

 Elements with low conductivity are

called insulators. Insulators serve a very important

purpose: they prevent the flow of electrons.
 Water is considered as insulator , it has low conductivity
electric number, however there are still factors in water for
conductivity

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Background
 Water is classed as an insulator since it has low conductivity .
Nevertheless, the electricity can conduct through the tap
water. It is resulted from the presence of some ions in water
(Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+..) that increase the conductivity of water.
Thus, “super-pure” water which contain no impurities is
obviously an insulator.
 However, autoprotolysis, the process of dissociation of
water itself forming the solvated proton (H3O+) and the
hydroxyde ion (OH-), which also can affect the conductivity
of “super-pure” water. The reaction is usually represented as:

2H2O → H3O+ (aq) + OH− (aq)

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Hypothesis

 Water conductivity relies mainly on its ions.

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Experiments
 2 experiments were performed for pure water and tap water
 A conductivity meter that applies voltage between two
electrodes. The drop in voltage between the two electrodes
is used to measure the resistance in the water, which is
converted into conductivity.
 Temperature: 293K

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Results

http://www.mbhes.com/conductivity_measurement.html

 Since the electrical conductivity is a measure to the capacity

of water to conduct electrical current, it is directly related to
the concentration of salts dissolved in water, and therefore to
the Total Dissolved Solids (TDS). These molecules dissolve
into positively charged ions and negatively charged ions,
which conduct electricity.
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Discussion

 The more charged ions contain in water, the more

interaction among them will occur.
 Ions in autoprotolysis are less mobile than ions in TDS and
salts, hence the autoprotolysis-ions will have low
conductivity than TDS and salt ions.
 Electrical conductivity of ions in water is higher than ions
from autoprotolysis

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Conclusion

 Ions in water is the main conductivity factor.

Autoprotolysis electric conductivity is not

high enough for dangerous caution.

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References
 Iyasele, J.U, David J. Idiata, D.J. 2015. Investigation of the
Relationship between Electrical Conductivity and Total
Dissolved Solids for Mono-Valent, Di-Valent and Tri- Valent
Metal Compounds. International Journal of Engineering
Research and Reviews, ISSN 2348-697X

 Paul Monk. 2004. Physical Chemistry Understanding our

Chemical World

 http://www.mbhes.com/conductivity_measurement.html

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Thank you for your listening
Commends and questions

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