How To Measure Conductivity In Liquid

The conductivity of a liquid is a measure of charged particles, called ions, that are free to move around. The conductivity itself is carried by the ions and the more ions there are in a solution the higher its the conductivity. A liquid solution consisting of compounds that completely break apart into ions have a high conductivity. Table salt NaCl dissolved in water is an example of a high conductive solution. As long as the solution is unsaturated, the salt will completely dissociate into sodium and chlorine atoms. To measure the conductivity you can use a conductivity meter.

Step 1

Wash thoroughly the 250 mL beaker and electrodes with distilled (deionized) water. Your measurements will be erroneous if these are not completely clean.

Step 2

Cover up any surfaces with newspaper to avoid surface damage on the tabletop, depending on what solution you are working with.

Step 3

Put the 250 mL beaker on the protected tabletop and add 100 mL of the solution.

Step 4

Place the electrodes from the conductivity meter into the solution. Make sure that the solution covers the sensory areas of the electrodes. Typically, this is only about 1/2 inch, but it varies with different makes and models.

Step 5

Give the meter 10 seconds to stabilize and then read the conductivity from the display on the conductivity meter.