Is distiled water a conductor?
928923
No, because there are no ions in there.  Add some metals, or salt, or acid/base, and then it will.  In tap water, there are those, so tap water does conduct electricity.
282805
in order to conduct electricity, the water (or any liquid really) must have some charge carriers in it.  These charge carriers are atoms that have ionized, that is, have become charged either positvely or negatively.  plain water, like from the tap, has very few charge carriers in it, but it does have some and will conduct electricity.  Adding salt to tap water increases the amount of charge carriers because the salt ionizes.  so salted tap water is a better conductor of electricity that plain tap water.  sea water already has plenty of salt in it, so it is a good conductor also.\n\n(a little known fact is that if you have completely pure water, it will not conduct electricity very easily, if at all.   I'm not sure how available pure water is.)
1145478
Distilled water is just that, distilled, pure water. If you take tap water and boil it you will find a whitish buildup on the side of the pot or pan you boil it in. Now if you would have placed that same water  in your furnace you would get that same buildup. When that happens in pipes it is called scale or scale buildup. When that happens you loss the efficiency of the furnace, it makes it harder to heat.
547583
Water + Electricity = Bad News\n\nSealing electronics and connectors is difficult and expensive.
1150281
Water ability to conduct water depends on the total amount of dissolved solids  (TDS), thus, the electrical conductivity (EC) of water is an indirect measure of its dissolved constituents. Let's say you had your arms stretched out and your pool is really clean (very low TDS), depending on the circumstances, there may be different field strengths from one side of your body to another. In this case, your body becomes the conductor and, yes, you can be electrocuted.
738402
Attach a bare wire to each terminal and dip the ends of both in salty water. Bubbles will form near the wires as the electricity breaks the water and salt molecules into their constituent gaseous elements. \n\nBy the way, with salty water you will get hydrogen and chlorine, but not oxygen. The salt is needed to make the water conduct electricity, but it also prevents you from getting oxygen gas from the water. You can do this experiment without the salt, but you will need WAY more than 9 volts. In that case you would get oxygen.
1083308
I think water you know that the tap wtaer is hard water i.e it contains excess of Ca++ ions and also the water is made up up of h20 which is ionic in nature and now the the original part when the person touches the switch cause the person is covered all of his body with hard water which is a 98.456% conductor of electricity he gets a svere shock also you should be knowing humanbody is also a conductor of electricity blood is acetic so both media media make good conductors of electricity and no obstruction is observed. In this way the person may also die.\n so always when working with electricity wear rubber slippers which are insulators (dont conduct current).\n GO ON KEEP ASKING
924596
The KCl, definitely.  Conductivity in water is greatly enhanced by the presence of ions.  Deionized water actually has fewer ions in it than ordivnary tap water, so it's a really terrible conductor.  KCl, on the other hand, dissolves into K+ and Cl- in water, so there are a whole lot of ions in a solution of KCl.
1028768
Simply put, it's not a conductor. \n\nhttp://jchemed.chem.wisc.edu/JCEsoft/CCA/CCA1/MVHTM/R0540/S567.HTM
569824
In reality, normal water is a very weak conductor. It is possible to be electricuted while in the water, as in the bathtub example, but in the open waters, only things in very close proximity to the lightning strike will be affected. In actuality, pure water doesn't conduct electricity at all, but when things are dissolved in the water it can carry a current. This also explains why being shocked in your bathtub is more prominent- there are soaps and oils dissolved in the water.
265159
Yes. liquid/fluids have some property called Dielectric Strength, which upon breaking this strength by increasing/applying enough voltage, it conducts electricity.\n\nIn transformers, Oil is used as sheild (insulation) between the coils. But a transformer can burn out when subject to huge voltage that it breaks the oil dielectric strength.\n\nSalt water conducts electricity very well. Do not stand high above the electricity lines and piss over the wires. You will sure die. :)\n\nBut PURE WATER DOES NOT CONDUCT ELECTRICITY.
884983
Salt (or more specifically, Sodium Chloride salt) is a strong electrolyte, meaning that when dissolved in water it will completely break up into ions (Na+ and Cl- ions).\n\nPure water, by itself, does not conduct electricity, but when you dissolve an electrolyte in it, an electric current can pass through the solution.\n\nIn order for a electric current to flow there must be charge carriers which can move.  Pure water does not have these charge carriers, but after a salt is dissolved and ions are present in solution, the solution becomes conductive.
798952
see the diagrams in the source\n\nBig Idea\nWater is comprised of two elements - hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O). Distilled water is pure and free of salts; thus it is a very poor conductor of electricity. By adding ordinary table salt (NaCl) to distilled water, it comes an electrolyte solution, able to conduct electricity.\n\nKey Concepts\n\n    * Ionic compounds such as salt water, conduct electricity when they dissolve in water.\n    * Ionic compounds consist of two or more ions that are held together by electrical attraction. One of the ions has a positive charge (called a cation) and the other has a negative charge (anion).\n    * Molecular compounds, such as water, are made of individual molecules that are bound together by shared electrons (i.e. covalent bonds).\n\nEssential Questions\n\n    * What happens to salt when it is dissolved in water?\n    * What are electrolytes?\n    * How can we determine the volume of dissolved ions in a water sample?\n    * How are atoms held together in an element?\n\nKnowledge and Skills\n\n    * Conduct an experiment to see that water can be split into its constituent ions through the process of electrolysis.\n    * Prepare and experiment with a 10% salt solution to better understand the process of ion exchange.\n    * Discuss and research the "softness" and "hardness" of water.\n    * Use the periodic table to identify elements and learn their characteristics.\n\nPrior Knowledge\n\n    * Define the difference between ionic and molecular compounds.\n    * Salt consists of sodium (Na) and chloride (Cl).\n    * Water is a tiny, V-shaped molecult with the molecular formula H2O.\n    * A basic understanding of how a battery works.\n    * Atoms are made of a positive nucleus surrounded by negative electrons.\n    * An atom's electron configuration, particularly the outermost electrons, determines how the atom can interact with other atoms.\n    * All matter is made up of atoms.\n    * Atoms of any element are alike, but different from atoms of other elements.\n\nCommon Preconceptions\n\n    * Students may think - "Water is a good conductor of electricity." Water is a very poor "conductor" of electricity. (The ionization constant for water is very small.) The reason it is dangerous to insert a light bulb while standing in a puddle of water is that water is a great solvent for ionic compounds. Tap water and fresh water typically contain dissolved ions in sufficient concentrations to enable the solution to be conductive. However, ions in solution carry the charge and are therefore responsible for the current, not the water itself.\n    * Students may think - "Electrons can flow through solutions." In "conduction of electricity" through solutions, electrons themselves do not pass through the solutions. Rather, the charge balance is maintained in the solution by movement of cations and anions toward the electrodes where charge transfer takes place at the solution interface.\n      Water is comprised of two elements - hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O). Distilled water is pure and free of salts; thus it is a very poor conductor of electricity. By adding ordinary table salt (NaCl) to distilled water, it comes an electrolyte solution, able to conduct electricity.\n\nConcept Map\nThis lesson and activity relates to the branch "Phases of Water" from the comprehensive Aquarius Concept Map - Water & its patterns on Earth's surface.\n\nBackground\nIn chemistry, electrolysis is a method of separating bonded elements and compounds by passing an electric current through them. An ionic compound, in this case salt, is dissolved with an appropriate solvent, such as water, so that its ions are available in the liquid. An electrical current is applied between a pair of inert electrodes immersed in the liquid. The negatively charged electrode is called the cathode, and th positively charged one the anode. Each electrode attracts ions which are of
966564
What you are proposing violates occupational safety regulations unless you've received the proper training and permits. Keep in mind that getting an electric shock from touching charged water is extremely dangerous because water reduces the skin's resistance to electricity, especially if you have salts dissolved in it. 35 mA is 3.5 times the minimum requirement to send a heart into fibrillation. Given the high voltage and water combination, there is no question that your body's resistance would be low enough to draw the full current limit.\n\nThat said, an arc is when you create a bright plasma conducting path. Dissolving bicarb in the water will make the *water* conduct instead, and load down (short) the HV, suppressing its voltage. You'll likely just heat the water that way. Your best bet is to use distilled water. Give the electrodes sharp points to enhance the electric field near the points. Bring the electrode close enough underwater, and you'll get your arc. Note that arcs create high pressure, and the water may splash out of the container and electrocute you.
742059
depends also on whether or not your house has lightning protection, most newer houses do...and since water from the garden variety shower is chock full of mineral deposits, yes lightning can fry you...only distilled water is safe to bathe in, since there are no minerals in it...pure water is an insulator, water from your shower is not exactly pure, so the shock travels thru the suspended mineral particles.
2722
I would say it is possible by serious computer modders.\n\nYou CANNOT submerge electronics in distilled water and still have them work. There are tons of chemicals and other oils on the surfaces of the computer that will introduce salinity and conductivity into water. Distilled water doesn't matter in the least.
956940
Best ones are the metal elements with "spare" electrons.\nGold\nSilver\nLead\nCopper\nIron\nEtc.\nPS Pure water doesn't conduct electricity - it's the impurities or trace elements that do the conducting