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    Experiment No. 4

    Conductive Liquids

     

    Experiment: To discover what substance makes the best electrolyte.

    Materials:

    You will need:

    4.5v Battery
    Three lengths of wire
    Paper Clip (x2)
    Light Emitting Diode (LED)
    Petrie Dish (x5)
    Vegetable Oil
    Tap Water
    Bottled Water
    Salt Water
    Coke
    Labels

     

    Method:

    1) Twist one end of a wire around each paper clip.

    2) Hook one paper clip over each terminal of the battery.

    3) Twist the wire that is connected to the + terminal of the battery
    around the plus terminal of the LED (the longer terminal)

     


    4) Fill a petrie dish with:

    (a) Tap Water
    (b) Bottled Water
    (c) Salt Water
    (d) Coke
    (e) Vegetable Oil

    5) Twist a third wire around the minus wire of the LED.

    6) Place the loose ends of the wires in each plastic petrie dish in turn.

     

    Result: When you place the wires in the different substances, the LED lights up (or does not). If you leave
    the wires in the salt water for too long, it starts to fizz and then turn yellow. Our results are in the table below:

    Substance
    Amount of Conduction
    Tap Water
    Low
    Bottled Water
    Low
    Salt Water
    High
    Coke
    Low
    Vegetable Oil
    None

    Conclusion: We concluded that Salty Water conducted electricity the best and therefore made the
    best electrolyte.

    To discover why salt has this effect on water, please click here.

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