Electrical Resistance of Water

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mbrooke

mbrooke

Batteries Included
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Technician
I take it Wikipedia is wrong? (Yet again)


Water resistance - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

The electrical resistivity of water (0.2 Ω·m sea water, 2 to 200 Ω·m drinking water, 180000 Ω·m deionized water at 20°C)
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Which contradicts this source:

www.aquaread.com

Water Resistivity Sensor - AquaRead

Looking for a sensor to test the Resistivity of water? Discover our Water Resistivity Sensor & why measuring the resistivity of water is important.
www.aquaread.com www.aquaread.com

I can't see tap water being 2-200 ohms per meter especially considering electrode boilers...
 
I noticed that the Wiki article used ohm-meters while Aquaread is using ohm-centimeters.
 
Yeah, they roughly agree once you account for the unit difference. Something with a resistivity of 1 ohm meter has a resistivity of 100 ohm cm
 
Wiki is way off. People get mad when I make claims that are refuted by wiki or why I don't research something on wiki before I comment when I have to explain the whole site is hit or miss. I never use it.
 
mbrooke said:
Wiki is way off. People get mad when I make claims that are refuted by wiki or why I don't research something on wiki before I comment when I have to explain the whole site is hit or miss. I never use it.
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Don't feel bad. My mom believes that everything she sees and hears in the news is the truth.
 
ActionDave said:
One of the most intelligent members here is Gar and he regularly references Wikipedia.
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Only when it agrees with his knowledge. Much of the wording and references are already typed so it is easier to reference an article you have checked out and verified with your own experience.
 
ActionDave said:
One of the most intelligent members here is Gar and he regularly references Wikipedia.
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I wouldn’t use Wikipedia as a reference at all.
I would however, look at the bottom and check out the references there. From there I can use those refs to quote or use.
 
There is a lot of variation in water conductivity. Distilled is practically an insulator but sea water is a conductor.
 
Utility company generators (steam turbine driven at least, I don't know about gas turbine or hydro) might have terminal voltages in the 10kV to 40kV range. The stator windings are hollow and have very pure water pumped through them for cooling. In the 1970s when I worked in a steam plant, we had meters monitoring conductivity which were observed regularly. I don't remember if there was manual logging. This was before mass computer systems began in use with new plants around that time.

As K8MHZ says, it was conductivity. Today, that unit is the siemen I believe. OOPS, Wikipedia says siemens as the unit.
 
480sparky said:
Pure water is a very good resistor. Contaminants in water is conductive.
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"very good resistor"? Insulator would be a better word. ;)

Kinda odd, right?, we talk about energy flow all the time (watts, amps, Btu/hr, electronvolt/s , etc) and then we throw in a "1/" term. Bass Ackwards in so many ways. ;)

And duly noted, pure water can be "corrosive" due to its' "leaching" ability. Using pure water is not an ez task to do in terms of longevity of systems.
 
FionaZuppa said:
"very good resistor"? Insulator would be a better word. ;)

Kinda odd, right?, we talk about energy flow all the time (watts, amps, Btu/hr, electronvolt/s , etc) and then we throw in a "1/" term. Bass Ackwards in so many ways. ;)
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"Insulator" implies it doesn't allow current flow. It does. So technically, it's a 'semi-conductor'.
 
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