Definition:Electrolyte/Examples/Dilute Sulphuric Acid

Example of Electrolyte

Dilute sulphuric acid is an electrolyte.

The molecules of sulphuric acid separate into:

positive ions containing a hydrogen nucleus

negative sulphate ions.

Under the influence of a potential difference, a current flows that consists of:

the positive ions moving towards the negative charge

together with:

the negative sulphate ions moving towards the positive charge.

Also presented as

Some sources suggest that the positive ions consist only of the hydrogen nuclei, that is, free protons.

However the reality is that the positive ions are in fact complex aggregations of water molecules which associate themselves into hydronium ions.

Sources

• 1958: C.A. Coulson: Electricity (5th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $\text {I}$: Preliminary Survey: $\S 2$. Electric currents