Methanol, CH 3 OH, and ethanol, C 2 H 5 OH, are two of the alcohols that we used in this experiment. In this experiment, students discovered some properties of strong electrolytes, weak electrolytes, and non-electrolytes by observing the behavior of these substances in aqueous solutions. When the conductivity probe is placed in a solution that contains ions, and thus has the ability to conduct electricity, an electrical circuit is completed across the electrodes that are located on either side of the hole near the bottom of the probe body. This results in a conductivity value that can be read by the computer. The size of the conductivity value depends on the ability of the aqueous solution to conduct electricity.
Strong electrolytes produce large numbers of ions, which results in high conductivity values.
Weak electrolytes result in low conductivity, and non-electrolytes should result in no conductivity. In this experiment, students observed several factors that determine whether or not a solution conducts, and if so, the relative magnitude of the conductivity. Thus, this simple experiment allows them to learn a great deal about different compounds and their resulting solutions. If an ionic compound is dissolved in water, it dissociates into ions and the resulting solution will conduct electricity. In this experiment, students studied the effect of increasing the concentration of an ionic compound on conductivity.