Why does water conduct electricity?

Question

i know a bit bout chem so i understand onding and stuff. dont dumb it down. if its hard to get ill work it out.

Answer 1

Water by itself when very pure, i.e. deionized water, can conduct electricity but is explained by dissolved impurities because no water can completely be free of impurities. So deionized water can conduct, from experiment, 5.5 × 10^-6 S·m^-1. This is a tiny amount compared to the conductivity of Silver which has a conductivity of 63.01 × 10^6 S·m^-1, which relatively is hunormous ;). The polarity of water (the dipole-dipole nature of hydrogen and oxygen in water) cannot carry an electric current due to the overall molecule being neutral, only ions can.

Answer 2

water contains some free ions

water is H2O but sometimes OH- ions and H3O+ when current is passed through a solution containing the ions the free ions pass the electricity........ its the same with metals they have free ions the help conduct electricity

Answer 3

Since you know some chem...you know that a water molecule is made of 2 Hydrogen atoms covalently bonded to an Oxygen atom...there are NO free electrons or ions...and the water molecule is electrically balanced

Since electrical current is defined as the number of charges (ions or electrons) passing a point per unit time...then there can NOT be any charge flow in water...that simple...water does not conduct electricity!

So how do you make it conduct electricity?  Two ways (currently known)...either you add something to the water that creates charges/ions...or...you apply enough electrical field potential (voltage) to break the covalent bond (approximately 13MV/meter)

And by the way...13MV/meter (13million volts) sounds like a lot...but it really isn't....remember this is at a meter...imagine how low it would be at a millionth of a meter (in other words at the atomic distance level)...

Answer 4

It doesn't if it's double distilled. If it's not distilled it conducts electricity because of the dissolved minerals.  

Answer 5

Here's a newsflash:  Water doesn't conduct electricity. Your mother lied to you.  Water is a very good insulator, at least with "normal" voltages.  Anything will conduct electricity if the potential difference is high enough.

What does conduct electricity are SOLUTIONS, solutions which contain ions, which come from substances that dissolve in the water and dissociate into ions.  

So pure water.  Not a good conductor.

Water with stuff dissolved in it.  Good conductor

It's the ions that are dissolved in the water that make water conduct electricity.