Why does water conduct heat better than salt?

Question

I have to present this info to a class soon (i'm not a teacher) and someone pointed out while i was practicing that one of the smarter students would ask at one point why water conducts heat better than salt does (since that's part of the lesson). I honestly have no idea, so if annyone could tell me why (without making the explantion to complex, most sites i look up i swear are in a foreign language) i'd really apreciate that

Answer 1

Water have very moveable molecules, so they move around, they transfer heat to each other easily, but it is mostly their ability to vibarate fast and excite each other.
A block of salt has molecules that cannot move as much and probably isn't much of a conductor anyway as it is a salt and not a pure metal. Copper would conduct heat better than steel, which would conduct heat better than aluminum, which would conduct heat better than salt, which would conduct heat better than asbestos......etc

Answer 2

I would have to disagree that Iron or copper transfers heat better than aluminum. Just take a rod made of either and grind on the end of it while holding it in your hand. The aluminum will transfer the heat very quickly and burn your hand. Aluminum is much more difficult to weld for this reason. As why water conducts heat better is the same principal as why it transfers electricity better. The molecules interact with each other and salt does not.

Answer 3

I'm not sure that it is. Gotta look it up. I think, though, you probably mean "transfer heat", not conduct. Conduction is heat transfer in the absence of material flow (by phonons or conduction band electrons). Convection is heat transfer *by* fluid motion. The latter is much more efficient at transferring heat, so water is better. Since salt is solid, it can only conduct.