Question:

How come water shorts things out?

How come water shorts things out when water doesn't even conduct electricity it is the minerals in the water. If you dropped pure water in electrical equipment what would happen

Answer:

Water is actually a pretty good insulator. The water molecules themselves don't conduct electricity very well at all. Water is conductive when there are substances dissolved in the water which dissociate into ions. It's the ions which actually do the conducting. If you placed pure water on electrical equipment, you would get wet electronic equipment, with little chance for shorting out. It would actually depend on the voltages in the electron equipment. But keep in mind that pure what does contain some ions. First there is the autoionization of water to make H+ and OH-. Secondly pure water has a pH of around 5.5 to 6 due to the absorption of CO2 from the air. This will result in H+ and HCO3- ions. So pure water is not ion-free and will conduct electricity if the voltage is high enough.
nothing would happen if you dropped pure water in electrical equipment and the electrical equipment is also pure without any dirt which is soluble in water. however, in real life, this is not possible. firstly, water which you get from your tap contains all sorts of impurities that dissociate into their ions when in aqueous form. hence, there is presence of free ions that can act as charge carriers to conduct electricity in tap water. if you are able to get pure water, without any impurities, it would be almost impossible to ensure that your electrical equipment is clean without any dirt and impurities on it which are soluble in water. Hence, these residue can dissolve and dissociate in water to form free ions that conduct electricity.

Share to: