How to Measure Conductivity in Liquid

The conductivity of a liquid is a measure of charged particles, called ions, that are free to move around. The conductivity itself is carried by the ions and the more ions there are in a solution the higher its the conductivity. A liquid solution consisting of compounds that completely break apart into ions have a high conductivity. Table salt NaCl dissolved in water is an example of a high conductive solution. As long as the solution is unsaturated, the salt will completely dissociate into sodium and chlorine atoms. To measure the conductivity you can use a conductivity meter.

Things You'll Need

  • 100 mL solution
  • Distilled water
  • 250 mL beaker
  • Conductivity meter
  • Newspaper
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Instructions

    • 1

      Wash thoroughly the 250 mL beaker and electrodes with distilled (deionized) water. Your measurements will be erroneous if these are not completely clean.

    • 2

      Cover up any surfaces with newspaper to avoid surface damage on the tabletop, depending on what solution you are working with.

    • 3

      Put the 250 mL beaker on the protected tabletop and add 100 mL of the solution.

    • 4

      Place the electrodes from the conductivity meter into the solution. Make sure that the solution covers the sensory areas of the electrodes. Typically, this is only about 1/2 inch, but it varies with different makes and models.

    • 5

      Give the meter 10 seconds to stabilize and then read the conductivity from the display on the conductivity meter.

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