What are the factors on which the dielectric constant of the electrolyte in a cell depend upon?
Answers
Answer:
You have learnt that water is a polar molecule and that it can dissolve ionic substances in water. When ions are present in water, the water is able to conduct electricity. The solution is known as an electrolyte.
Electrolyte
An electrolyte is a substance that contains free ions and behaves as an electrically conductive medium.
Because electrolytes generally consist of ions in solution, they are also known as ionic solutions. A strong electrolyte is one where many ions are present in the solution and a weak electrolyte is one where few ions are present. Strong electrolytes are good conductors of electricity and weak electrolytes are weak conductors of electricity. Non-electrolytes do not conduct electricity at all. Conductivity in aqueous solutions, is a measure of the ability of water to conduct an electric current. The more ions there are in the solution, the higher its conductivity. Also the more ions there are in solution, the stronger the electrolyte.
Factors that affect the conductivity of electrolytes (ESAFQ)
The conductivity of an electrolyte is therefore affected by the following factors:
The concentration of ions in solution. The higher the concentration of ions in solution, the higher its conductivity will be.
The type of substance that dissolves in water. Whether a material is a strong electrolyte (e.g. potassium nitrate,
KNO 3
KNO3
), a weak electrolyte (e.g. acetic acid,
CH 3
COOH
CH3COOH
) or a non-electrolyte (e.g. sugar, alcohol, oil) will affect the conductivity of water because the concentration of ions in solution will be different in each case. Strong electrolytes form ions easily, weak electrolytes do not form ions easily and non-electrolytes do not form ions in solution.
Temperature. The warmer the solution, the higher the solubility of the material being dissolved and therefore the higher the conductivity as well.