Isn't ammonium chloride more electrically conductive in water than acetic acid would be, because ammonium chloride doesn't dissociate well in water and acetic acid does?

1 Answer
Oct 12, 2017

Nope, what you've said is completely backwards.


Ammonium chloride IS more electrically conductive in water than acetic acid, but it is because:

  • Ammonium chloride is an IONIC compound, which contains a polyatomic cation that DOES dissociate in water.
  • Acetic acid is a WEAK acid and therefore DOES NOT fully dissociate in water.

AMMONIUM CHLORIDE

#"NH"_4"Cl"# dissolves easily in water:

#"NH"_4"Cl"(s) stackrel("H"_2"O"(l)" ")(->) "NH"_4"Cl"(aq)#

and breaks apart into ions easily in water:

#"NH"_4"Cl"(aq) -> "NH"_4^(+)(aq) + "Cl"^(-)(aq)#

while #"NH"_4^(+)# also partially dissociates in water:

#"NH"_4^(+)(aq) + "H"_2"O"(l) rightleftharpoons "NH"_3(aq) + "H"_3"O"^(+)(aq)#

ACETIC ACID

On the other hand, #"HC"_2"H"_3"O"_2# only partially dissociates in water:

#"HC"_2"H"_3"O"_2(aq) + "H"_2"O"(l) rightleftharpoons "C"_2"H"_3"O"_2^(-)(aq) + "H"_3"O"^(+)(aq)#

The equilibrium lies strongly to the left...


And thus, #"NH"_4"Cl"# easily conducts electricity as #"NH"_4^(+)(aq)# and #"Cl"^(-)(aq)#, while #"HC"_2"H"_3"O"_2# comparatively does not do so well...