Question

which of the aqueous solution does not conduct electricity ?

1.Ca(NO3)2
2.CH3NH2
3.CH3OH
4.CH3COOH
I was told it's 3 but i dont know why..
please help :)

Answer 1

Here are links to the Wikipedia articles for each of the four substances.
1) Ca(NO3)2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_nitrate
2) CH3NH2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methylamine
3) CH3OH http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methanol
4) CH3COOH http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetic_acid

1) When ionic compound dissolve, they form an electrolyte.
2) Amines can be electrolytes, but I'm having trouble finding information on this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amine

3) Alcohols (-OH group) are nonelectrolytes.
4) Acids form an electrolyte when they dissolve.

Answer 2

ok im going to introduce myself to this group no wiki answers, no links, just going to put everything in laiman terms for you so you understand.
ca(no3)2 is ionic=conduct yes i hope we agree up to here
ch3nh2 can conduct not because it loses a hydrogen but because it picks one up its a strong base, yes?
ch3cooh is a carboxylic acid, it does loose a hydrogen pka around 4.8 yes acetic acid.

but ch3oh pka 15.5 not so much it can lose or pick up a hydrogen rarely, but because of resonance it doesnt do either so no ionic resonance. hope this helped.

Answer 3

Re: bnut056
Methylamine can conduct because it is a base. This sounds reasonable to me.

Answer 4

1.Calcium Nitrate will dissociate in water thus it conducts electricity due to the ions it forms in aqueous sol'n
2. Methylamine is a weak base and Acetic Acid is a weak acid and they partially dissociate into water thus, they conduct electricity
3. Methanol can conduct electricity but it's resistance is too high when compared to the other substances, so it is safe to assume that methanol slightly conducts electricity...