Question

Why distilled water cannot conduct electricity, even if it can dissociate into ${H^ + }$ and $O{H^ - }$ ions, explain?

Answer 1

Hint : The conductivity of electricity of any compound or molecule depends upon its ions present in it. So, the compound that can dissociate at a good rate will be a good conductor of electricity and the compound having less number of ions will be a bad conductor of electricity.

Complete Step By Step Answer:
So, from the above definition we are clear about the criteria of conductivity. So now, dealing with the distilled water –
We all know that distilled water is the purest form of water. We prepare distilled water by giving it a steam and converting it into vapours and then re-condensing it to form back into a liquid form.
So, this process renders distilled water with no ions or very less number of ions. Though it can dissociate into ${H^ + }$ and $O{H^ - }$ ions but it is in a negligible amount, which is not enough to conduct the electricity.
Hence, distilled water being the purest form of water is a very bad conductor of electricity.

Note :
Conductivity of water is an important aspect to know about and that is because of the reason – which conductivity of a particular type of water tells us about the amount of dissolved substances, salts, ions, minerals and chemicals in it. So conductivity is important to assess the quality of water. The higher these substances present in water, the higher is its conductivity. Pure water being devoid of ions has a conductivity in the range of $0.5 - 3\mu mhos{\text{ c}}{{\text{m}}^{ - 1}}$ .