To conduct electricity, a substance must contain which of the following?

Some substances in aqueous solution can conduct electricity due to the movement of dissolved ions throughout the solution.

Substances that dissociate into component ions when placed in aqueous solution are called electrolytes.

Which substances are electrolytes?

Basically any soluble ionic compound, acids and bases are electrolytes, because they have capacity to dissolve into ions. Molecules like#"C"_6"H"_12"O"_6#and#"CO"_2#do not have any ions to dissociate into, so they are nonelectrolytes.

There are two classes of electrolytes:

• Strong electrolytes

• Weak electrolytes

Strong electrolytes are those in which the compound dissociates almost completely into its component ions.

Weak electrolytes are those in which the compound ionizes only a small amount in solution.

Here is a visual representation of electricity conduction through aqueous solution:

Can you classify the three examples in this image as a strong electrolyte, weak electrolyte, or nonelectrolyte?

Practically all ionic compounds are strong electrolytes, no matter how soluble they are (the amount that does dissolve does so nearly completely).

Acids and bases that are strong electrolytes are called strong acids and bases. Acids and bases that are weak electrolytes are called weak acids and bases.

Here is a list of the strong acids and bases:

Know that if an acid or base is not on this list, it is most likely a weak acid or base and dissociates into ions only partly.

Answer link

EET-AP

Jul 12, 2017

Conduction of electricity by the movement of ions is a characteristic of metal salts when dissolved into water which can quickly dissociate the molecules of the solute into ions in solvation.

Explanation:

When a salt is formed by the reaction of a metal element with one of the gaseous halogens, the resulting compound can be readily broken down into free radical ions in a solution of water. The molecular angle of the water molecules overpower the weaker molecular binding forces in the salt, and the molecules break up into negative anions and positive cations.

There is a quick look here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/add_edexcel/periodic_table/groupsrev4.shtml

But there is more. One of the best electric insulators on earth is air. But during a lightening storm, tremendous potential differences in the atmosphere can become powerful enough to ionize the local air, and result in flashes of various types of lightening generation.

When some substances are dissolved in water, they undergo either a physical or a chemical change that yields ions in solution. These substances constitute an important class of compounds called electrolytes. Substances that do not yield ions when dissolved are called nonelectrolytes. If the physical or chemical process that generates the ions is essentially 100% efficient (all of the dissolved compound yields ions), then the substance is known as a strong electrolyte. If only a relatively small fraction of the dissolved substance undergoes the ion-producing process, it is called a weak electrolyte.

Substances may be identified as strong, weak, or nonelectrolytes by measuring the electrical conductance of an aqueous solution containing the substance. To conduct electricity, a substance must contain freely mobile, charged species. Most familiar is the conduction of electricity through metallic wires, in which case the mobile, charged entities are electrons. Solutions may also conduct electricity if they contain dissolved ions, with conductivity increasing as ion concentration increases. Applying a voltage to electrodes immersed in a solution permits assessment of the relative concentration of dissolved ions, either quantitatively, by measuring the electrical current flow, or qualitatively, by observing the brightness of a light bulb included in the circuit (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Solutions of nonelectrolytes such as ethanol do not contain dissolved ions and cannot conduct electricity. Solutions of electrolytes contain ions that permit the passage of electricity. The conductivity of an electrolyte solution is related to the strength of the electrolyte.

Ionic Electrolytes

Figure 2. As potassium chloride (KCl) dissolves in water, the ions are hydrated. The polar water molecules are attracted by the charges on the K+ and Cl− ions. Water molecules in front of and behind the ions are not shown.

Water and other polar molecules are attracted to ions, as shown in Figure 2. The electrostatic attraction between an ion and a molecule with a dipole is called an ion-dipole attraction. These attractions play an important role in the dissolution of ionic compounds in water.

When ionic compounds dissolve in water, the ions in the solid separate and disperse uniformly throughout the solution because water molecules surround and solvate the ions, reducing the strong electrostatic forces between them. This process represents a physical change known as dissociation. Under most conditions, ionic compounds will dissociate nearly completely when dissolved, and so they are classified as strong electrolytes.

Consider what happens at the microscopic level when we add solid KCl to water. Ion-dipole forces attract the positive (hydrogen) end of the polar water molecules to the negative chloride ions at the surface of the solid, and they attract the negative (oxygen) ends to the positive potassium ions. The water molecules surround individual K+ and Cl– ions, reducing the strong interionic forces that bind the ions together and letting them move off into solution as solvated ions, as Figure 2 shows. Overcoming the electrostatic attraction permits the independent motion of each hydrated ion in a dilute solution, as the ions transition from fixed positions in the undissolved compound to widely dispersed, solvated ions in solution.

Covalent Electrolytes

Pure water is an extremely poor conductor of electricity because it is only very slightly ionized—only about two out of every 1 billion molecules ionize at 25 °C. Water ionizes when one molecule of water gives up a proton to another molecule of water, yielding hydronium and hydroxide ions.

[latex]{\text{H}}_{2}\text{O}\left(l\right)+{\text{H}}_{2}\text{O}\left(l\right)\rightleftharpoons{\text{H}}_{3}{\text{O}}^{+}\left(aq\right)+{\text{OH}}^{-}\left(aq\right)[/latex]

In some cases, solutions prepared from covalent compounds conduct electricity because the solute molecules react chemically with the solvent to produce ions. For example, pure hydrogen chloride is a gas consisting of covalent HCl molecules. This gas contains no ions. However, when we dissolve hydrogen chloride in water, we find that the solution is a very good conductor. The water molecules play an essential part in forming ions: Solutions of hydrogen chloride in many other solvents, such as benzene, do not conduct electricity and do not contain ions.

Hydrogen chloride is an acid, and so its molecules react with water, transferring H+ ions to form hydronium ions (H3O+) and chloride ions (Cl–):

This reaction is essentially 100% complete for HCl (i.e., it is a strong acid and, consequently, a strong electrolyte). Likewise, weak acids and bases that only react partially generate relatively low concentrations of ions when dissolved in water and are classified as weak electrolytes. The reader may wish to review the discussion of strong and weak acids provided in the earlier chapter of this text on reaction classes and stoichiometry.

You can view the transcript for “What Are Electrolytes?” here (opens in new window).

Key Concepts and Summary

Substances that dissolve in water to yield ions are called electrolytes. Electrolytes may be covalent compounds that chemically react with water to produce ions (for example, acids and bases), or they may be ionic compounds that dissociate to yield their constituent cations and anions, when dissolved. Dissolution of an ionic compound is facilitated by ion-dipole attractions between the ions of the compound and the polar water molecules. Soluble ionic substances and strong acids ionize completely and are strong electrolytes, while weak acids and bases ionize to only a small extent and are weak electrolytes. Nonelectrolytes are substances that do not produce ions when dissolved in water.

Try It

1. Explain why the ions Na+ and Cl− are strongly solvated in water but not in hexane, a solvent composed of nonpolar molecules.
2. Explain why solutions of HBr in benzene (a nonpolar solvent) are nonconductive, while solutions in water (a polar solvent) are conductive.
3. Consider the solutions presented:
   
   
   1. Which of the following sketches best represents the ions in a solution of Fe(NO3)3(aq)?
   2. Write a balanced chemical equation showing the products of the dissolution of Fe(NO3)3.
4. Compare the processes that occur when methanol (CH3OH), hydrogen chloride (HCl), and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) dissolve in water. Write equations and prepare sketches showing the form in which each of these compounds is present in its respective solution.
5. What is the expected electrical conductivity of the following solutions?
   1. NaOH(aq)
   2. HCl(aq)
   3. C6H12O6(aq) (glucose)
   4. NH3(l)
6. Why are most solid ionic compounds electrically nonconductive, whereas aqueous solutions of ionic compounds are good conductors? Would you expect a liquid (molten) ionic compound to be electrically conductive or nonconductive? Explain.
7. Indicate the most important type of intermolecular attraction responsible for solvation in each of the following solutions:
   1. the solutions in Figure 2
   2. methanol, CH3OH, dissolved in ethanol, C2H5OH
   3. methane, CH4, dissolved in benzene, C6H6 
   4. the polar halocarbon CF2Cl2 dissolved in the polar halocarbon CF2ClCFCl2 
   5. O2(l) in N2(l)

Show Selected Solutions

1. Crystals of NaCl dissolve in water, a polar liquid with a very large dipole moment, and the individual ions become strongly solvated. Hexane is a nonpolar liquid with a dipole moment of zero and, therefore, does not significantly interact with the ions of the NaCl crystals.

3. The answers are as follows:

1. Fe(NO3)3 is a strong electrolyte, thus it should completely dissociate into Fe3+ and (NO3−) ions. Therefore, (z) best represents the solution.
2. Fe(NO3)3(s) ⟶ Fe3+(aq) + 3NO3−(aq)

5. The expected electrical conductivity is as follows:

1. high conductivity (solute is an ionic compound that will dissociate when dissolved);
2. high conductivity (solute is a strong acid and will ionize completely when dissolved);
3. nonconductive (solute is a covalent compound, neither acid nor base, unreactive towards water);
4. low conductivity (solute is a weak base and will partially ionize when dissolved)

7. The types of intermolecular attraction are as follows:

1. ion-dipole;
2. hydrogen bonds;
3. dispersion forces;
4. dipole-dipole attractions;
5. dispersion forces

Glossary

dissociation: physical process accompanying the dissolution of an ionic compound in which the compound’s constituent ions are solvated and dispersed throughout the solution

What does a substance need to conduct electricity?

Which of the following substances would conduct electricity?

Which two properties must a substance have in order to conduct electricity?

What must be true in order for a solution to conduct electricity?