30
votes
Accepted
Is "Sulfuric acid... makes a poor electrolyte... very little of it will dissociate into ions" really true? What does that actually mean?
The best known conducting aqueous solutions are that of strong acids in water because the hydronium ion (=protonated water) has the highest electrical conductivity known today. The infinite dilution ...
- 42.6k
29
votes
Why don't room temperature superconductors exist?
The honest answer is we don't know
As DrMoishe Pippik points out in their answer we have a good theoretical explanation of superconductivity only for one class of superconductors. And that Nobel Prize ...
- 37.8k
22
votes
Accepted
Why does the graph of the electrical conductivity of sulfuric acid/water solutions have this knee in the ~85%-~92% range?
The comment by Vikki made me dig even older papers. Since conductance (not conducitivity note that Darling is using an incorrect terminology from today's standards) is inversely related to viscosity, ...
- 42.6k
15
votes
Why is copper a better conductor than iron?
This is, ultimately, a question on solid state physics rather than chemistry. Further, the OP indicates that they are in high school, which kind of limits the depth of the answer that might be useful ...
- 8,691
15
votes
Is "Sulfuric acid... makes a poor electrolyte... very little of it will dissociate into ions" really true? What does that actually mean?
The conductivity might be viewed relative to other electrolytes and by concentration.
By concentration: Up to about 25% $\ce{H2SO4:H2O}$, conductivity increases fairly linearly with concentration, ...
- 35.3k
15
votes
Why don't room temperature superconductors exist?
(My answer is a bit off-topic to the theoretical "why" answered well by others, but I believe the particular wording of OP's post is evocative of a relatively common misunderstanding of the ...
- 673
14
votes
Why is fullerene 60 an insulator while graphite is a conductor?
To reiterate Ivan's comment fullerene is a bad conductor because that's what the measured properties produce as a result. The mechanism that makes it a bad conductor is that it has shorter range ...
- 12.7k
13
votes
Accepted
What happens to an ongoing electrolysis when you turn off the battery?
This is a very good question! I'm not sure why you received a downvote. What you are asking about is called a polarization current.
Suppose we are electrolyzing a solution and suddenly we stop the ...
- 42.6k
11
votes
Why don't room temperature superconductors exist?
For classical superconductivity, the Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer (BCS) theory states electrons travel in Cooper pairs. Since, at the quantum level, it is hard to distinguish one electron from the other, ...
- 35.3k
9
votes
Accepted
Why are silicon and germanium used as semiconductors but not other metalloids?
The statement, "metalloids like [a]ntimony and [t]ellurium are not used as semiconductors", is untrue:
Tellurium thin-film transistors have been fabricated.
Bismuth nanowires have been used ...
- 35.3k
9
votes
Accepted
Would a quarternary ammonium electride conduct electricity?
You can't conclude that by thinking alone; some experiments are necessary.
True, an electron in an electride is kinda "free", in that it isn't connected to any particular atom. But that doesn't mean ...
- 31.6k
9
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Why is fullerene 60 an insulator while graphite is a conductor?
The sheets in graphene basically extend all through the entire material; you essentially have one macroscopic orbital going from one side of a pencil to the other. Push an electron in on one side and ...
- 68.7k
8
votes
Why do we do electrolysis and electroplating using warm electrolyte?
ringo makes good points in his answer. Additionally, though, the increased temperature enhances mass transfer of ions to/from the electrode surfaces by at least two mechanisms:
Higher temperature ...
- 17.5k
8
votes
Accepted
Is there any electronic component to water conductivity?
I agree with the commenters that electrical conduction is very unlikely, but it's worth going through some possible mechanisms:
actual solvated electrons: As others have noted, free electrons would ...
- 10.4k
8
votes
Is there any electronic component to water conductivity?
Actually electronic conduction can occur in water. You'll probably find it in your daily rounds, if you know where to look.
Water, like all condensed matter, has a band structure. This is discussed ...
- 62.5k
7
votes
Why is it that the least reactive metals are the best electrical conductors?
One of the reasons why non reactive metals are good conductors is that they are good at staying as metals. Most metals react with the atmosphere to form oxides. And the majority of oxides are ...
- 4,314
7
votes
Accepted
Why do we do electrolysis and electroplating using warm electrolyte?
The reasoning here is two-fold. The solubility of most electrolytes increases with temperature, and water's ionization constant also increases with temperature. On the whole this means more ions, and ...
- 24.1k
7
votes
Are there compounds more conductive than Silver (Ag)?
The short answer is "no". There are materials, both actual and theoretical, which would have a higher conductivity, but not as a simple "material". They only make better conductors under very ...
- 71
6
votes
Accepted
Why is AC current used rather than DC current for calculating the conductance of a solution(see body)?
When a current is passed through an electrolyte, a chemical reaction takes place. This alters the composition of the solution over time and you won't actually be measuring the conductivity(or ...
- 390
6
votes
Decrease in temperature of an aqueous salt solution decreases conductivity
Decrease in temperature has two effects, both attributing to lower electrolytic conductivity:
decreases the mobility of the charge carriers (e.g. $\ce{H3O+}$ and $\ce{OH-}$ for pure water);
...
- 38.5k
6
votes
Accepted
Decrease in temperature of an aqueous salt solution decreases conductivity
According to the Stokes-Einstein-Debye theory, and assuming the ionic composition remains constant (say for a fully dissociated salt), the main factor accounting for the response of the conductivity ...
- 22.9k
6
votes
Accepted
How to derive the conductivity titration curve which accounts for salt formation
I believe have found a answer.
It's valid mathematically, make sense physically but I don't know if chemically is true.
I posted to community appreciation.
There we go!
The reactions
...
- 420
6
votes
How to relate the conductance of an aqueous electrolyte to its conductivity
The answer is quite simple, if you look at the equation carefully. Conductance and conductivity are related by cell constant, $\displaystyle\frac{\text{Area}}{\text{Distance}},$ where the area is the ...
- 42.6k
6
votes
Conductometric titration curve plotting
Expressed in $\pu{\Omega ^{-1} cm^2 mol^{-1}}$, the ionic conductance of usual ions like $\ce{Na+, K+, Ca^{2+}, Cl-, SO4^{2-}}$ are between $50$ and $80$. But the two ions $\ce{H+}$ and $\ce{OH-}$ ...
- 30k
6
votes
What non-toxic non-corrosive liquids are used for heat transfer?
Mineral oil should be good (aka white oil). Vary similar to motor oil , flashpoints not easy to find but around 450 F. Or, for a much higher flash point- phosphate ester. I don't know what it is but ...
- 3,787
5
votes
Accepted
Are there compounds more conductive than Silver (Ag)?
Graphene supposedly has higher conductance.
The [...] resistivity of graphene sheets would be 10−6 Ω⋅cm. This is less than the resistivity of silver, the lowest otherwise known at room temperature.
...
- 2,805
5
votes
Accepted
Why does the conductivity of a LiOH solution decrease when boric acid is added?
TL;DR: The addition of boric acid effectively switches the conducting anionic solute from hydroxide to borate, which has a lesser contribution to the conductivity due to its larger size and ...
- 17.5k
5
votes
Why we do not add salt water to the batteries instead of acid?
All depends on the used electrochemical system. The electrolyte is the part of this system, it is not just a passive medium to conduct the current.
Some systems work in acidic environments like acid ...
- 44.7k
5
votes
Can someone explain why the electrical conductivity of magnesium chloride decreases with increasing concentration?
You simply started your data range at too high a concentration to see the initial increase. Semantic Scholar gives data for the conductivities of several aqueous electrolyte solutions at 25°C, ...
- 62.5k
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