Question

Both aqueous CH3COOH and NH3 conduct electricity weakly but a mixture

of the two conducts electricity strongly. explain

Answer 1

CH₃COOH and NH₃ have relatively low value of the dissociation constant, and are weak acid and weak base, respectively. This means that by dissolving in water separately these compounds do not produce enough ions to have good conductivity. However, mixing their solutions leads to the acid-base neutralization reaction:

CH₃COOH + NH₃*H₂O --> CH₃COONH₄ + H₂O

Ammonium acetate that is formed in this reaction is a water-soluble ionic compound and dissociates in water into ions completely:

CH₃COONH₄ --> CH3COO^- + NH₄⁺.

Therefore, due to much higher concentration of ions this solution conducts electricity strongly.