Take one of the wires attached to the battery posts and attach the free end to one end of the lamp and bulb set-up. Touch the ends of the wire from the battery post and the other unattached wire from the lamp together to make certain that the light works. Place both wires into one of the prepared solutions. If the bulb lights, you have an electrolyte. Continue to test each of the other solutions.
Record answers in a student worksheet, outlined below.
As students test different solutions, there is a tendency for them to get their hands wet as they dunk the wire. Make sure they clean their hands after each test. Some substances may irritate the eyes. An electrolyte is, by definition, any substance that can become an ionic conductor of electricity when it is dissolved in a solvent, such as water. The distilled water did not conduct electricity because there were no dissolved electrolytes in it.