Important terms:*Conductance: The property of ease of

flow of electric current through a body is

called conductance. Conductance is an
expression of the ease with which
electric current flows through a substance.
In equations, conductance is symbolized by the
uppercase letter G. The standard unit of
conductance is the siemens (abbreviated S),
formerly known as the mho. Electrical
conductance measures how
easily electricity flows along a certain path
through an electrical element. ohms law in
terms of conductance

* Resistance: The obstacle offered to the

flow of electric current is called resistance.
The electrical resistance of an electrical
conductor is the opposition to the passage of
an electric current through that conductor;
the inverse quantity is electrical
conductance, the ease at which an electric
current passes. Electrical resistance shares
some conceptual parallels with the
mechanical notion of friction. The SI unit of
electrical resistance is the ohm (), while
electrical conductance is measured
in siemens (S).
An object of uniform cross section has a
resistance proportional to its resistivity and
length and inversely proportional to its
cross-sectional area. All materials show
some resistance, except forsuperconductors,
which have a resistance of zero.
The resistance (R) of an object is defined as
the ratio of voltage across it (V)
to current through it (I), while the
conductance (G) is the inverse:

For a wide variety of materials and

conditions, V and I are directly proportional
to each other, and
therefore R and G are constant (although
they can depend on other factors like
temperature or strain). This
proportionality is called Ohm's law, and
materials that satisfy it are called "Ohmic"
materials.
In other cases, such as
a diode or battery, V and I are not directly
proportional, or in other words the I
V curve is not a straight line through the
origin, and Ohm's law does not hold. In this
case, resistance and conductance are less
useful concepts, and more difficult to define.
The ratio V/I is sometimes still useful, and is
referred to as a "chordal resistance" or
"static resistance",as it corresponds to the
inverse slope of a chord between the origin
and an IV curve. In other situations,
the derivative
may be most useful; this is
called the "differential resistance".

*Electrolysis: The operation in which

electricity causes a chemical reaction is
called electrolysis.

In chemistry and manufacturing, electrolysis i

s a method of using a direct electric
current (DC) to drive an otherwise nonspontaneous chemical reaction. Electrolysis
is commercially highly important as a stage in
the separation of elements from naturally
occurring sources such as ores using
an electrolytic cell. The use of electric
current to stimulate a non-spontaneous
reaction. Electrolysis can be used to
separate a substance into its original
components/elements and it was through this
process that a number of elements have been
discovered and are still produced in today's
industry. In Electrolysis, an electric current
it sent through an electrolyte and into
solution in order to stimulate the flow of ions
necessary to run an otherwise nonspontaneous reaction. Processes involving
electrolysis include: electro-

refining, electro-synthesis, and the chloroalkali process.

Factors Affecting Electrolysis

Reactions
1. Overpotential- The generated voltage is
significantly higher than expected. An
overpotential may be necessary to overcome
interactions taking place on the electrode
itself (especially for gasses).
2. Electrode type- An inert electrode acts as a
surface for a reaction to occur on and is not
involved in the chemical reaction whereas an
active electrode becomes a part of the half
reaction.
3. Simultaneous electrode reactions- If two
different pairs of half-reactions take place
at once. Some half reactions should be
eliminated in order to determine a single pair
of half reactions best suited for the
electrolysis to occur.
4. The state of reactants- If reactants are in
nonstandard states, the voltage of half
cells may differ from that of the standard
amount. In this case, the solution for the anode
half cell may have a pH that is either higher
or lower than the standard pH of 4 which may
lead to a nonstandard voltage as well.

* ohms law: This law states that the

current flowing through a resistance is
directly proportional to the potential
difference applied across its ends, at
constant temperature and pressure. V = I x R.
Ohm's law states that the current through a
conductor between two points is
directly proportional to the potential
difference across the two points. Introducing
the constant of proportionality,
the resistance ,one arrives at the usual
mathematical equation that describes this
relationship:

where I is the current through the conductor

in units of amperes, V is the potential
difference measured across the conductor in
units of volts, and R is the resistance of the
conductor in units ofohms. More specifically,
Ohm's law states that the R in this relation
is constant, independent of the current.
The law was named after the German
physicist Georg Ohm, who, in a treatise
published in 1827, described measurements of

applied voltage and current through simple

electrical circuits containing various
lengths of wire. He presented a slightly
more complex equation than the one above
(see History section below) to explain his
experimental results. The above equation is
the modern form of Ohm's law.
In physics, the term Ohm's law is also used to
refer to various generalizations of the law
originally formulated by Ohm. The simplest
example of this is:
where J is the current density at a given
location in a resistive material, E is the
electric field at that location, and is a
material dependent parameter called
the conductivity.

* faradays laws:
First Law: The mass of a substance
produced or consumed in electrolysis is
directly proportional to the quantity of
charge passing through it. m (X Q or, m = Z x I x

t where, Z is electrochemical equivalent; I is

current; t is time in seconds; Q is charge.

Second Law:

The mass of substance

produced in electrolysis directly

proportional to its equivalent mass. W1 / E1 =
w2 / e2 = w3 / e3

Third Law: The mass of a substance

produced in electrolysis is directly
proportional to the number of electrons per
mole needed to cause desired change in
oxidation state. Conductivity When voltage is
applied to the electrodes immersed into an
electrolyte solution, ions of electrolyte
move, and thus, electric current flows
through the electrolytic solution. The
electrolytic solution and the metal
conductors exhibit resistance to the passage
of the current; both of which obey ohms law.
The reciprocal of resistance is called
electrical conductance. The unit of electrical
conductance is Siemens (S) or ohm-1 or mho. If a
solution is placed between two parallel
electrodes having cross sectional area A and
distance L apart then the resistance is given

by r = 1 / c p (called rho) is known as

resistivity. Its reciprocal gives the
conductivity of the solution, which is denoted
by k (called kappa). its unit is siemens/meter.
K = 1 / R * L / A L/ A is a

Factors affecting electrical

conductivity

fixed quantity for a cell and is called the

cell constant.
The factors which affect the electrical
conductivity of the solutions are:
*

Inter-ionic attraction: It depends on solutesolute interactions.

*

Solvation of ions: It depends on solutesolvent interactions.

Viscosity of the solvent: It depends on

solvent-solvent interactions.

Experiment:To find the variation of conductance with

temperature in electrolytes.

Apparatus:Glass beaker, CuSO4 solution, Cu electrodes,

ZnSO4 solution, Zn electrodes, rheostat,
battery eliminator, water, burner,
thermometer, flask, ammeter, voltmeter

Procedure:1.The electrolyte chosen is ZnSO4 and the

electrodes are of Zn. Readings for the

measurement of conductance are taken at

intervals of 3 DC.
2.Proper precautions are taken to avoid
evaporation and to keep other factors
constant.
3.The vessel and electrodes are removed
and the vessel is cleaned and filled with
ZnSO4 solution.
4.The electrodes are refitted in their
original place so that the distance
between them does not change.
5.Current is passed and when the
voltmeter and ammeter show steady
readings, they are noted.
6.The current is switched off.
1.It is seen that while the ammeter reading
returns at once to 0 position. The
voltmeter needle pauses for a while at a
particular reading which is noted down.

2.This reading indicates the back EMF in the

electrolyte. Similarly, more sets of
reading are taken, and resistance is
calculated.
Thus, the value of conductance is
calculated.
1.The switched on circuit readings in
voltmeter and ammeter are taken.
2.The current through the electrolyte is
changed by adjusting the rheostat and
more sets of readings are taken.
3.Thus, the mean value of resistance is
calculated. Above steps are repeated

Physical constants:-

for CuSO4 as electrolyte with electrodes

made of Cu.
For the purpose of accuracy and
convenience, some important aspects of the
electrolyte process are kept constant in
the experiment as their variation might
affect the conductivity of the electrolyte.
They are:
*
*

Nature of electrodes
*

Voltage

Size of electrodes

Separation between the electrodes

Concentration of the electrolytes

*

Nature of the electrolytes

*

Resistance in the circuit

Observation Set 1&2

For ZnSO4 & CUSO4 electrolyte with Zn
electrode
s.n
o.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

temperat Readin Reading resista

ure
g of
of
nce
ammet voltme
er
ter
I
V
R=V/I
23
100ma
1
10
26
100ma
095
9.5
29
110ma
0.89
8.09
32
110ma
0.84
7.63
35
120ma
0.80
6.66
38
125ma
0.75
6.00
41
130ma
0.71
7.6
44
130ma
0.65
5.00

s.n Temperature

Ammeter

Voltmete

Resi

conducta
nce

C=1/R
0.1
0.105
0.120
0.130
0.150
0.160
0.180
0.200
conducatnce

o.

1.

25

75ma

1.4

2.

28

75ma

1.35

3.

31

75ma

1.3

4.

34

75ma

1.25

sta
nce
18.6
7
18
17.3
3
16.6
7

0.053
0.055
0.057
0.060

Result:The relevant graph shows that the

1 / Resistance of an electrolyte increases at
a steady rate as the temperature increases.

Conclusion:-

On heating a solution, it is known that

viscosity gradually decreases, with decrease
in viscosity, the speed and movement of the ions
increases. In other words, the conductance of
the electrolyte increases with increases in
temperature. Hence, the result of the
experiment agrees with reasoning.

Precautions:*

Variation of resistance due to one of the

factors should be kept constant. *

The

electrodes used in each case should always be

kept parallel to each other.
*

The solution should be kept undisturbed

throughout the experiment.

For each observation, three readings are

taken and the mean value is considered.

Bibliography
I Jayesh Sanjay Masand have collected the
required information for my project from the
following sources.

1. Website
www.wikipedia.org
www.google.com
www.yahoo.com
www.conductance.com

2. BOOKS:
Comprehensive Practical
Manual

NCERT Class XII