Does H2O conduct electricity?

Question

Explain please.

If the answer is yes, why?

If the answer is no, why?

I believe that carbon dioxide is insoluble in water...

Answer 1

No, pure water does not conduct electricity.
Water will only conduct electricity when it has an electrolyte present, when ions are in solution which will allow for the flow of an electric current.

Tap water is not pure water, even this has a very small amount of ions present which will allow the wate to conduct to a small degree. To improve the water's conductivity, one can use one of many very common electrolytes, for example "Salt", Sodium Chloride is a strong electrolyte.
"Strong" and "weak" when talking about electrolytes refers to their ability to break up into ions in solution. "Strong" electrolytes will completely break up into ions whereas "weak" electrolytes will not break up completely (although they will break up to a degree). An example of a weak electrolyte is acetic acid (AKA "vinegar"), this weak electrolyte will also allow for the flow of an electric current through water.
There are also "non-electrolytes" such as sugar which do not break into ions at all and will not allow for the flow an an electric current.

Answer 2

Does Pure Water Conduct Electricity

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Does H2O conduct electricity?

Answer 4

Actually even distilled/deionized water conducts electricity but very poorly. Water self-dissociates so there will always be some H+ and OH- present (at 25C 10^-7 M of each ion).

The mechanism by which it conducts electricity is very peculiar and postulated to be different than that of other electrolytes.
Usually when you dissolve an electrolyte into water you will have ions with water molecules co-ordinated around them and when you apply an electric field to the solution these ions will move towards the electrode of opposite charge. So the electric current is in the form of ions moving in the solution.

For water, the H+ and OH- ions actually don't have to diffuse for conducting electricity. H+ is actually bound to a water molecule (H3O+). Water molecules participate into an extensive array of hydrogen bonds. These bonds break and form again so that the charge moves towards the electrodes without requiring the ions to move.

This is the theory of the Grotthus mechanism.

E.g. Consider *** as H-Bonds and dots only for drawing

.. . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..+
H-O *** H-O *** H-O-H
.. . | .. .. .. .. .|. .. .. .. .. |
. ..H .. .. .. .H.. .. .. ..H.

becomes
.. .+
H-O-H *** O-H *** O-H
.. . | .. .. .. .. | .. .. . . .. |
. ..H .. .. .. .. H.. .. .. ..H.


However there are lots of questions about the full validity of this proposed mechanism under all conditions:
http://www.pnl.gov/energyscience/09-99/art2.htm

Answer 5

Yes, H2O does conduct electricity but it does it very poorly.
Distilled water has a very low ion count and therefore very little ability to promote electron movement.
Check the source link for a neat experiment.
According to this experiment, you could even say, H2O does a really bad job in conducting electricity.

Answer 6

Pure (distilled) water is a poor conductor of electricity but water with impurities (like seawater or tapwater) conducts electricity very well.

Answer 7

No... Pure water does not conduct electricity. Believe it or not... water purity is actually classified by its INABILITY to conduct electricity.

For commercial grade water, the impedance of water determines its classification. The impedance measurement assess the electrolytes dissolved in water. (They don't all have to be salts. CO2 in the air can also dissolve in water readily and lower the impedance.)

As a reference:

Class 1 water is 18 MOhm. (Reagent Grade)
Class 2 water is 5 MOhm.
Class 3 water is 1 MOhm.

Answer 8

electrolysis is the basic medium of conduction in liquid state and you need ions for that. Water doesn't easily dissociate to ions so impurity is added as cations and anions to conduct electricity

Answer 9

Believe it or not, water does not actually conduct electricity (if we're talking pure here). The reason people get electricuted is because of the salts on our skin. Sea water conducts more than fresh water and this conducts more than tap. The more aqueous salt included or dissolved in the water, the more conductive or electrically potent it may be...

Answer 10

Yes . H2O is a kind of material the chemist call it "polar material" in these kinda materials , there is one or more Ion that can move from a molecule to another.
so do not dare to test if the water can conduct electricity or not with a high voltage electricity .
best wishes :-)