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
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"(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^(+)(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(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,