The table gives, in the first column, the specific conductivities of hydrochloric acid at 18°, and, in the second column, the concentrations; these concentrations are expressed in moles or gram-equivalents per cubic centimeter; the last column gives the ratio of conductivity to concentration.
Conductivity Conductivity of 1 c.c. Concentration ───────────── Concentration.
0.00370 0.00001 370 0.00734 0.00002 367 0.01092 0.00005 364 0.01800 0.00005 360 0.03510 0.00010 351
Furthermore, facts admitted by Clausius to be inexplicable by his own assumptions receive, in the theory of Arrhenius, at least a quantitative formulation borne out by a mass of corroborative evidence. The difference in conductivity between pure water and sulphuric acid is such a fact, mentioned by Clausius. Determinations of the ionization of sulphuric acid and of water, by the conductivity methods which are based on the theory of Arrhenius, show that, while sulphuric acid is very considerably ionized (see p. 104), water is scarcely ionized at all. The ionization of water (see p. 104) has been determined quantitatively by at least four independent methods of examination,[86] and, minimal as the ionization is, the results agree so well with each other that van 't Hoff[87] was led to write: "If one is not previously convinced of the correctness of the theory of electrolytic dissociation, hardly any result won by means of it is so convincing, as the agreement between the conclusions reached in completely different ways as to the degree of dissociation of water itself. After such an agreement, it is hardly conceivable that the basis on which all these results rest should further be altered."
«Mobilities or Partial Conductivities of Ions: Principle of Kohlrausch.»—If ions have a separate existence, each kind of ion would be expected to move through a solution under a given electrical force at a given temperature with its own specific speed, the speed being presumably dependent on the nature of the ion as well as on the weight of water combined with it and dragged with it through the solution (p. 42). [p054]
Such relative speeds of ions may be demonstrated by means of an experiment: the motion of the hydrogen ions, formed by the ionization of hydrochloric and other acids, may be observed by their action on a reddened (alkaline) solution of phenolphthaleïn, which is decolorized by them; and the motion of the hydroxide ions, formed by the ionization of sodium hydroxide and other bases, may be followed by their action on colorless phenolphthaleïn, which turns red in their presence. The hydrogen and the hydroxide ions are the fastest, in aqueous solutions, and their speeds are compared in the next experiment with that of blue cupric ions, which have a speed roughly the same as that of many common ions. In this experiment the hydrogen ions are readily seen to move about twice as fast as the hydroxide ions and five to six times as fast as the cupric ions.