What Makes the Combination of Water and Electricity so Dangerous?

It is a known fact that water and electricity make a very dangerous combination. In fact, a lot of electricians and people such as facilities management companies Bristol spend a large proportion of their jobs ensuring that there is no way that water and electricity come into contact with each other. But what is it about this particular combination that makes it so deadly?

Water itself is not a great conductor of electricity, in fact electricians can use a special sort of water that is purified in laboratories. All of the impurities are taken out, and this water is actually an excellent insulator for electrics and does not conduct electricity at all. It is the chemicals within the water that make it so much better at conducting electricity, and the sea conducts electricity even better than fresh water, due the high salt content.

Once the substances that are in the air and the ground start to dissolve in the water, it then becomes very good at conducting electricity. The substances that dissolve, particularly salts, contain both positively and negatively charged ions. Even a small number of ions will give the water the ability to conduct electricity. The electricity will head for the oppositely charged ions, and if a person happens to be in the way then they will end up receiving a large electric shock, which depending on the circumstances may be fatal.

It is for this reason that electricians are particularly careful around water and electricity as it only takes a very small amount of water to conduct electricity.

Summary

This article explains why water and electricity are such a dangerous combination, despite pure water actually being a poor conductor. It shows that dissolved substances such as salts give water the positively and negatively charged ions needed to conduct electricity, and that even a small amount of water containing these ions can be enough to conduct a dangerous current.

Questions this article raises

• Why is completely pure water actually a poor conductor of electricity?
• What role do dissolved salts play in making water conduct electricity?
• Why do electricians need to be so cautious around even small amounts of water?