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Question: Why does distilled water not conduct electricity, whereas rain water does?...

Why does distilled water not conduct electricity, whereas rain water does?

Explanation

Solution

Hint: Water is an inorganic compound which is tasteless, odourless, almost transparent chemical substance. Distilled water is the purest form of water.

Complete step by step answer:
Distilled water is that water which is boiled to vapour and then condensed back to liquid form. It is the purest form of water. All the impurities present in water are eliminated when it is vaporized and then cooled back. It boils exactly at 398K and freezes at 298K. Distilled water does not ionise, because of its purity. As there are no ions present, it cannot conduct electricity.

Rain water is water which is poured down from the atmosphere. The atmosphere consists of many gases. When it rains, these gases get dissolved in rain droplets and form ions which are poured down as rain. Thus rain water consists of ions such as SO42SO_{4}^{2-}, H+{{H}^{+}}, OHO{{H}^{-}} etc. Due to the presence of such ions, rain water can easily conduct electricity.
Thus, distilled water does not conduct electricity while rain water does.

Additional Information:
The molecular formula of water is H2O{{H}_{2}}O. Water is a polar compound at room temperature. Many inorganic compounds dissolve in it and hence it is known as a solvent of life. Every living being needs water to survive. Water exists as ice in solid phase, in gaseous phase it is water vapour. Water is in a liquid state. Water has many anomalous behaviours. When it is solidified, its density decreases. For almost many theories, water is taken as the reference.

Note: Distilled water and ionised water are not the same. Ionised water consists of ions while distilled water does not consist of ions at all.