Why does salt water conduct electricity whereas fresh water is a very poor conductor of electricity?

Answer 1

the salt water produces electricity because the salt turns into ions in the water which in turn conduct electricity...

salt (NaCl) is a ionic bond formed by combination of Cl & Na Here Cl is +vely charged & Na is -vely charged so they are neutral &hence do not conduct electrictybut when anIonic compound like NaCl is kept in water it easily splits resulting in formation of Cl becomes + and Na becomes - becoming conductive to electricity and HEnce conducts electricity

Answer 2

for a substance to conduct electricity, it must have charged particles which are free to move. Sea water has ionic salts such as NaCl which form ions(charged particles). Pure water, on the other hand, forms a negligible amount of ions when water dissociates.

Answer 3

The conduction of water depends on the presence of ions. In the case of fresh water, there are only a very few ions present, from the dissociation of its own molecules. (Though there is enough conduction to be dangerous with mains electricity.) Salt water contains lots more ions because sodium chloride is completely dissociated in water, giving free moving positive sodium ions and negative chloride ions. If by salt water you mean sea water, there will be many more ions present as well.

Answer 4

Electricity cannot be conducted through a salt crystal since there can be no ions movement because all of the metal ions and non-metal ions are frozen in place. Once the salt crystal is dissolved in water ions are formed by dissociation and are free to move and carry the electrical current.

Salt can conduct electricity if it is melted.

Answer 5

100% pure h20 is an insulator....doesnt conduct electricity

any impurity causes water to contain withi in it atoms with valence electrons (the orbiting electron that's in the orbit farthest from the atoms nucleus)

the valence electrons in atoms are always moving randomly around the place and into orbit around nighboring electrons(only when that atoms valence electron is out and about to allow for a new electron to fit)

salt atoms must contain valence electrons that jump from one atom in the water substance to other atoms, a current is when a steady stream of them move along the atoms of a conductor in a particular direction

Answer 6

Tap water also coduct a considerable amount of electricity due to ions in it.But distilled water is a very poor conductor.It has few amount of ions due to dissociation water molecules.Salt water has high amount of ions,so it conduct electricity very well.

Answer 7

Because salt water contain ions of sodium and chlorine.