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From: randy@utcsri.UUCP (Randall S. Becker)
Newsgroups: net.sci
Subject: Re: Question about Electricity
Message-ID: <1622@utcsri.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 10-Nov-85 15:24:58 EST
Article-I.D.: utcsri.1622
Posted: Sun Nov 10 15:24:58 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 10-Nov-85 16:43:46 EST
References: <621@hlwpc.UUCP> <662@petrus.UUCP> <714@alberta.UUCP> <2358@ukma.UUCP> <1843@watdcsu.UUCP>
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> In article <2358@ukma.UUCP> slg@ukma.UUCP (Sean Gilley) writes:
> >
> >
> >     Pure water (H2O) does not conduct electricity.  The reason you need to
> >be careful with electricity around water is that the minerals in solution
> >within the water are conductors.
> >
> I'm afraid your wrong Sean.  Pure water is a conductor.  It's conductivity
> is enhanced by certain impurities, in the same way that 
> silicon's conductivity is increased by certain dopant's.
> 
> Paul L.

Just to provide clarification to this point, water is an extremely weak 
electrolyte. Distilled water is 0.0000002 % ionized at 25C.
(Ref: Chemistry: A Conceptual Approach, Mortimer, 1979)

Randy
-- 
		Randall S. Becker
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