Question

Question #5dbac

Answer 1

Strong acids produce a high concentration of ions in water, which are responsible for transporting current.

Explanation:

Pure water has a very low concentration of ions, which arise from the self-ionization of water:
`H_2O harr H^+ + OH^-`
At room temperature, the total ion concentration is only about `2times10^-14M`.

However, dissolving `HCl` in water at only `0.1M` concentration produces `0.2M` total concentration of ions (`H^+ and Cl^-`). It is the movement of ions through the liquid (in response to an applied electric field) that is responsible for the conductivity of water, so even a modest concentration of strong acid can increase the conductivity by many orders of magnitude.

Highly purified water is actually a very poor electrical conductor, but there are usually enough impurities in normal household tap water to be a fairly good conductor.