CHEMISTRY INVESTIGATORY

PROJECT
VARIATION OF CONDUCTANCE IN ELECTROLYTES
WITH CHANGE IN TEMPERATURE
Priyansh Shukla | XII-A | 09-10-16

PREFACE
Conductivity (or specific conductance) of an electrolyte solution is a measure
of its ability to conduct electricity. The SI unit of conductivity is siemens per
meter (S/m).
Conductivity measurements are used routinely in many industrial and
environmental applications as a fast, inexpensive and reliable way of
measuring the ionic content in a solution. For example, the measurement of
product conductivity is a typical way to monitor and continuously trend the
performance of water purification systems.
In many cases, conductivity is linked directly to the total dissolved solids
(T.D.S.). For example, high quality deionized water has a conductivity of
about 5.5 S/m, typical drinking water in the range of 5-50 mS/m, while sea
water about 5 S/.
This project aims at finding the variation in conductivity of ZnSO4 and CuSO4
electrolytes with change in temperature.

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DEFINITIONS AND THEORY

Conductance: The property of ease of flow of electric current through a
body is called conductance. It is sometimes denoted by G.
Resistance: The obstacle offered to the flow of electric current is called
resistance. Generally denoted by R.
Electrolysis: The operation in which electricity causes a chemical reaction is
called electrolysis.
Ohms Law: This law states that the current flowing through a resistance is
directly proportional to the potential difference applied across its ends, at
constant temperature and pressure.
V=IxR

Resistance, R, is proportional to the distance, l, between the electrodes and is inversely

proportional to the cross-sectional area of the sample, A. Writing (rho) for the specific
resistance (or resistivity),
Conductivity: Conductivity of an electrolyte solution is a measure of its
ability to conduct electricity. The SI unit of conductivity is siemens per meter.
In practice the conductivity cell is calibrated by using solutions of known
specific resistance, *, so the quantities l and A need not be known precisely.
If the resistance of the calibration solution is R*, a cell-constant, C, is derived.

The specific conductance, (kappa) is the reciprocal of the specific resistance.

Conductivity is temperature-dependent. Sometimes the ratio of l and A is called as the

cell constant, denoted as G*, and conductance is denoted as G. Then the specific
conductance (kappa), can be more conveniently written as

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FARADAYS LAWS OF ELECTROLYSIS

1. Faradays first law

According to this law, The amount of substance liberated at an electrode is
directly proportional to the quantity of electricity passed.
-Where W or M is the amount of substance liberated in gram and
Q is the quantity of electricity passed in coulomb.

Since
Q = I.t -Where I is the current in amperes and t is time in seconds.
Hence
-Where Z is the proportionality constant,
.

called electrochemical equivalent.

Electrochemical Equivalent
The mass of substance (in grams) liberated at the electrode on passing
current of 1 ampere for 1 second or on passing 1 coulomb of electricity is
called electrochemical equivalent of the substance

2.

Faradays second law

If same quantity of electricity is passed through different electrolytes, then

the amount of substances liberated at the respective of electrodes are in the
ratio of their equivalent masses.

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FACTORS AFFECTING ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY

Inter-ionic attraction: It depends on solute- solute interactions.

Solvation of ions: It depends on solute-solvent interactions.
Viscosity of the solvent: It depends on solvent-solvent interactions.

APPARATUS
Glass beaker
Copper Sulphate (Cu SO4) Solution
Copper electrodes
Zinc Sulphate (ZnSO4) Solution
Zinc electrodes
Rheostat
Battery
Eliminator
Water
Burner
Thermometer
Flask
Ammeter
Voltmeter

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PROCEDURE
1. The electrolyte chosen is ZnSO4 and the electrodes are of Zinc.
1. Readings for the measurement of conductance are taken at intervals of
3 DC.
2. Proper precautions are taken to avoid evaporation and to keep other
factors constant.
3. The vessel and electrodes are removed and the vessel is cleaned and
filled with ZnSO4 solution.
4. The electrodes are refitted in their original place so that the distance
between them does not change.
5. Current is passed and when the voltmeter and ammeter show steady
readings, they are noted.
6. The current is switched off.
7. It is seen that while the ammeter reading returns at once to 0 position.
The voltmeter needle pauses for a while at a particular reading which
is noted down.
8. This reading indicates the back EMF in the electrolyte.
Similarly, more sets of reading are taken, and resistance is calculated.
9. Thus, the value of conductance is calculated.
10.The switched on circuit readings in voltmeter and ammeter are taken.
11.The current through the electrolyte is changed by adjusting the
rheostat and more sets of readings are taken.

2. Above steps are repeated for CuSO4 as electrolyte with Copper

electrodes.

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OBSERVATIONS
OBSERVATION SET 1: FOR ZNSO4 ELECTROLYTE WITH ZINC
ELECTRODES

S.N
o

Temperatur
e
(Celsius)

Reading
of
Ammeter
(I in mA)

Reading
of
Voltmete
r (V in
volts)

Resistan
ce
(R=V/I
in ohms)

Conductan
ce (C=1/R
in siemens)

23

100

1.0

10

0.100

26

100

0.95

9.5

0.105

29

110

0.89

8.09

0.120

32

110

0.84

7.63

0.130

35

120

0.80

6.66

0.150

38

125

0.75

6.00

0.160

41

130

0.71

7.6

0.180

44

130

0.65

5.00

0.200

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ZnSO4
0.25
0.2

0.2
0.18

0.15
Conductance (Siemens)
0.10.1

0.15
0.11

0.12

0.16

0.13

0.05
0
23

26

29

32

35

38

41

44

Temperature (C)

OBSERVATION SET 2: FOR CUSO4 ELECTROLYTE WITH COPPER

ELECTRODES

S.N
o

Temperatur
e
(Celsius)

Reading
of
Ammeter
(I in mA)

Reading
of
Voltmete
r (V in
volts)

Resistan
ce
(R=V/I
in ohms)

Conductan
ce (C=1/R
in siemens)

25

75

1.40

18.67

0.053

28

75

1.35

18.00

0.055

31

75

1.30

17.33

0.057

34

75

1.25

16.67

0.060

36

80

1.20

15.00

0.066

38

80

1.15

14.38

0.069

42

80

1.10

13.75

0.072

44

85

1.10

12.94

0.075

47

85

1.05

12.35

0.080

10

49

90

1.10

11.11

0.090

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CuSO4
0.1
0.09

0.09

0.08
0.07

Conductance (Siemens)

0.06
0.06
0.06
0.05 0.06
0.05

0.07

0.07

0.07

0.08

0.08

0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
0
25

28

31

34

36

38

42

44

47

49

Temperature (C)

RESULT
Since the graph between temperature and conductivity comes out to be a
straight line, we infer that the conductance of an electrolyte increases at

a steady rate with increase in temperature.

CONCLUSION
On heating a solution, it is known that viscosity gradually decreases, with
decrease in viscosity, the speed and movement of the ions increases. In other
words, the conductance of the electrolyte increases with increases in
temperature. Hence, the result of the experiment agrees with reasoning.

NOTE
For the purpose of accuracy and convenience, some important aspects of
the electrolyte process are kept constant in the experiment as their
variation might affect the conductivity of the electrolyte. They are:
Voltage
Nature of electrodes

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 Size of electrodes
Separation between the electrodes

Precautions
Variation of resistance due to one of the factors should be kept
constant.
The electrodes used in each case should always be kept parallel to
each other.
The solution should be kept undisturbed throughout the experiment.
For each observation, three readings are taken and the mean value is
considered.

Bibliography
Parts of this project have been referred from foreign sources and have been
included in this investigatory project after editing.
The references of the sources are as follows:
Chemistry (Part I) Textbook for Class XII; National Council of
Educational Research and Training
Concepts of Physics 2 by H C Verma; Bharti Bhawan (Publishers &
Distributors)
www.wikipedia.org
www.google.com

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