Water and Electricity: Common Misconception

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12-02-2003
Liger86

Water and Electricity: Common Misconception

Here we go...

Have you ever bin told that water conducts electricity? Problem with most people is that they think it does.

And who is stupid enough to fill their water-cooled case water tank with water out of their house or apartment? This is the problem with you people!

Pure water does not conduct electricity! H2O! What does is salt (chlorine) that is inside our water and other little particles like iron and other minerals.

Oh yes, and always use distilled water in your liquid cooled case!

Disclaimer: I’m not responsible for any damage or possible death caused to you, your equipment or someone else from reading this thread and experimenting therefore.

Also this does not mean that you can fill your tub with distilled water and make toast while in the tub!
12-02-2003
Govtcheez

I'd wager most people here know that.
12-02-2003
Yoshi

it is not water (H2O) that is conducting; it is actually the extra stuff that is conducting (salt, iron, minerals...)
12-02-2003
Govtcheez

Quote:

Originally posted by Wraith_Master
it is not water (H2O) that is conducting; it is actually the extra stuff that is conducting (salt, iron, minerals...)

It was pretty cool when he said that in the original post, wasn't it?
12-02-2003
joshdick

I wouldn't bet my life on that.
12-02-2003
ober

if it was pure distilled water, you should. But most water has some kind of impurity in it, resulting in a conductive matter.
12-02-2003
Liger86

Quote:

Originally posted by joshdick
I wouldn't bet my life on that.

Nor would I, but my science teacher last year did an experiment where he had some distilled water in a beaker and a extention corde running from the wall into the beaker and then he stuck his fingers in there. He said that by the end of the year he will let students try that but we never got a chance to!
12-02-2003
adrianxw

Even the purest water has a little conductivity. There are always a few water molecules that dissociate into an H+ and OH- ions. Normally these recombine quite quickly but in the presence of a high voltage potential, they can be moved apart before they recombine leading to a small but measurable current.
12-02-2003
EvBladeRunnervE

however, using distilled water in computers really doesnt make much sense either, as by moving accross the copper waterblock, it becomes ionized (or so I heard, i havent had chemistry)and also picks up copper molecules.
12-02-2003
Xei

A high enough voltage can travel through distilled water. However, for the most part, yes it is true that distilled water has a very low conductivity.
12-02-2003
adrianxw

>>> picks up copper molecules.

Copper ions, not molecules.
12-03-2003
VirtualAce

Ok well that all sounds good and fine everyone but I'm not playing around with electricity and water anytime soon.

Also water-cooled CPUs sounds like a bit of an accident waiting to happen. What if it leaks?
12-03-2003
adrianxw

>>> Also water-cooled CPUs sounds like a bit of an accident waiting to happen

Water cooling CPU's is nothing new - I remember our 6 node IBM mainframe in the mid 90's was water cooled - there was a farm of fan units installed where the useful car park used to be. :mad:

Now, an increasing number of water cooled PC kits are available. They remove heat more efficiently from hot components, but the key advantage as far as I am concerned, is they do so quietly.

To adequately cool a 3.2GHz with a top notch graphics card and a fast spinning RAID disk system with fans, even big ones, becomes intolerable to "certain family members" - especially if they run 24/7.
12-03-2003
UnregdRegd

Yeah, I learned this in high school chemistry about two years ago. I also seem to remember something about water molecules partially ionizing each other on their own because of the dihydrogen monoxide molecule's polarity.

Anyway, water as we usually experience it is an impure (sometimes very impure) solution rather than a pure compound. So it is still true that this aqueous solution we call water(or el agua, l'eau, aqua, hydros, etc.) has an electrical charge--in a sense.
12-04-2003
Leeman_s

can you say ELECTROLYTE?
12-05-2003
major_small

Quote:

Pure water does not conduct electricity! H2O! What does is salt (chlorine) that is inside our water and other little particles like iron and other minerals.

and if you put electricity through salt water, you can seperate the hydrogen from the oxygen... can you tell us what happens if you mix the hydrogen and the oxygen again? :rolleyes: