Question

Which of the following is a poor conductor of electricity?
A) $N{H_4}OH$
B) $HCl$
C) $C{H_3}OOH$
D) $NaOH$

Answer 1

‌ To solve this question, we must first understand conductivity, good conductor and bad conductor of electricity. Then we need to check the given options that they are conductive or not and then only we can conclude the correct answer.

Complete step by step answer:
Before we move forward with the solution of this given question, let us first understand some basic concepts:
Conductivity: is the measure of the ease at which an electric charge or heat can pass through a material. A conductor is a material which gives very little resistance to the flow of an electric current or thermal energy. Materials are classified as metals, semiconductors, and insulators. Metals are the most conductive and insulators (ceramics, wood, plastics) the least conductive.
Electrical conductivity tells us how well a material will allow electricity to travel through it.
Step 1: From the given options we can see that the given option is either base or an acid. So, in order to determine that which is a good conductor or bad conductor we must consider the strength of that acid or base, i.e. if the given option is strong acid or base then it will be good conductor of electricity and if the given option is weak acid or base then it will be bad conductor of electricity.
This is due to the fact that the stronger the acid or base will be more easily it will be dissociated into many numbers of ions as compared to weak acid or base.
Step 2: From step 1, we can conclude that Ammonium hydroxide $(N{H_4}OH)$ and Acetic acid $(C{H_3}OOH)$ are weak bases and acid respectively. Hence, they are poor conductors.

So, clearly we can conclude that the correct answers are Option A and C.

Note: Silver has the highest electrical conductivity of all metals. In fact, silver defines conductivity - all other metals are compared against it. On a scale of $0$ to $100$ , silver ranks $100$ , with copper at $97$ and gold at $76$ . Because of this property, and because it doesn't spark easily, silver is commonly used in electrical circuits and contacts. Silver is also utilized in batteries where dependability is mandatory and weight restrictions apply, such as those for portable surgical tools, hearing aids, pacemakers and space travel.