HMB203H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Formaldehyde, Chief Operating Officer, Sodium Chloride
Document Summary
Unlike metallic conductors in which electrons carry the electric charge, the electricity conducted in aqueous solutions is carried by the ions. When a solute dissociates into ions in an aqueous solution and becomes and electric conductor, it is known as an electrolyte. ***pure water contains so few ions that it does not conduct an electric current. *** based on how well a solution conducts electricity, we can deduce the strength of the presence of ions. We can label a solute as a non-electrolyte, strong electrolyte, or weak electrolyte. A non-electrolyte is a substance that is not ionized and does not conduct electric current (e. g. the lamp fails to light up). Therefore, there are no ions or extremely low concentration of ions. A strong electrolyte is a substance that is essentially completely ionized in aqueous solution, and the solution is a good electrical conductor (e. g. the lamp lights up brightly) and thus, has a high concentration of ions.
