The Conductivity of Water
You have always been warned not to touch electrical outlets or switches with wet hands. Being electrocuted has always prevented us from using our wet hands in handling electrical parts. This project will confirm if water truly a conductor of electricity.
What you need:
• Distilled water
• Small diode (LED)
• Tap water
• 2 button batteries (small)
• Scotch tape
• Copper or electrical wires (with alligator clips)
• Small container
How to do it:
1. Get the small container and fill it with tap water.
2. Connect the batteries and the LED light with the electrical wires. This will build you a simple open circuit.
3. Put the two ends into the tap water.
4. Repeat the same using distilled water.
5. With tap water, the open circuit will be complete and the bulb’s light turns on.
6. With distilled water, the open circuit is incomplete and the bulb’s light doesn’t turn on. If the light still turns on, then the distilled water you used is not pure enough. Replace the brand to get the desired result.
Analysis:
This project showed how a simple controlled experiment can demonstrate the conductivity of water. The only variable changed is the type of water. By substituting tap water with distilled water, you were able to prove that tap water conducts electricity and distilled water doesn’t.
Why?
Tap water has heavy metals that conduct electricity.
Distilled water is stripped of heavy metals, losing its ability to conduct electricity.