JCE Software Chemistry Comes Alive!
Acetic Acid

The conductivity of water, glacial acetic acid, and dilute acetic acid are compared.

  Click a thumbnail picture below to view a larger version. View movie.
View Movie
 

Narrative
A conductivity apparatus is placed in a beaker of deionized water and no light is observed. Placed in glacial acetic acid, no conductance is observed. When water is added to the pure acetic acid, the bulb glows brightly demonstrating the importance of water for the ionization of acetic acid.

Discussion
A conductivity apparatus is placed in a beaker of deionized water and no light is observed. When the conductivity apparatus is placed in glacial acetic acid no conductance is observed showing that water and glacial acetic acid are poor conductors of electricity (unionized). However, when water is added to the pure acetic acid, the bulb glows brightly demonstrating the importance of water for the ionization of acetic acid.

CH3CO2H(l) + H2O(l)  1 CH3CO2-(aq) + H3O+(aq)