Thermodynamics Research Center / ThermoML | Journal of Chemical and Engineering Data

ABSTRACT

The electrical conductivities of 34 electrolyte solutions applicable to natural waters ranging from 10-4 to 1 mol*kg-1 in concentration and from 5 to 90 deg C have been determined. High-quality electrical conductivity data for numerous electrolytes exist in the scientific literature, but the data do not span the concentration or temperature ranges of many electrolytes in natural waters. Methods for calculating the electrical conductivities of natural waters have incorporated these data from the literature, and as a result these methods cannot be used to reliably calculate the electrical conductivity over a large enough range of temperature and concentration. For the single-electrolyte solutions, equations were developed as a function of temperature and ionic strength. For the 942 equivalent conductivity determinations for single electrolytes from this study, the mean difference between the calculated and measured values was 0.1 %. The calculated equivalent conductivity was compared to literature data and the mean difference for 1,978 measurements was 0.2 %. These data provide an improved basis for calculating electrical conductivity for most natural waters.