The conductivity of uni-univalent salts in methyl alcohol at 25°C

The physical properties of solutions of electrolytes in non-aqueous solvents have been investigated in the past by a number of workers, but until recently the work in this field has been characterised to some extent by lack of accuracy and of co-ordination. The need for accurate experimental work in this direction is clear when it is realised that modern theories of the behaviour of electrolytes in solution are based almost entirely on data obtained for solutions in water. It is probable that a more complete understanding of the nature of solutions can come only through experimental work extending over a range of solvents: the peculiar properties of water as a solvent have tended hitherto to obscure many of the fundamental difficulties of the problem by cloaking them in the garb of simplicity. The work which forms the substance of this paper was undertaken with a view to obtaining some systematic data for the electrical conductivity of dilute solutions of uni-univalent salts in a non-aqueous solvent, of an accuracy comparable with that of Kohlrausch and his co-workers in the case of aqueous solutions. The choice of methyl alcohol as a solvent was governed by the fact that it is most closely allied to water in type, and is experimentally well suited for such an investigation.