Why Does Water Conduct Electricity?
2019-06-04
H2O itself is a stable molecule, and will not conduct electricity. So, why does electricity flow in water? The secret is that the absence or presence of impurities in the water determine its ability to conduct electricity.
Besides H2O (water molecules), Ca2+ (Calcium ions) and Mg2+ (Magnesium ions) exist within water. The terms hard water and soft water are determined by the amount of ions found within a given amount of water. Because these ions conduct electricity within water, tap water, groundwater and other ion rich waters possess a property that conducts electricity. Also, since pure water is only H2O and does not contain any impurities, it cannot conduct electricity.
QUICK TECHNIQUE
When you would simply like to confirm the presence or absence of electrical conductivity, a standard multi-meter can be used. Place the tester in a mode that measures resistance values and place both probes into the liquid. If the needle of the tester moves even slightly towards the zero side, it shows that electricity is flowing. If the needle does not move from ∞ at all, then there is no electrical conductivity. It can be judged that detection with an electromagnetic flow meter is not possilbe.