FORM OF THE CONDUCTANCE FUNCTION 105 



trations the carrying capacity of an electrolyte is determined by the 

 number of charges associated with the ionic constituents. 



In solutions of salts of the type of copper sulphate, reaction may take 

 place according to the equation: 



CuSO, = Cu+* + S0 4 -. 



This reaction is a binary one, similar to that of the binary salts, but 

 the molecular conductance of such a salt should be twice that of a binary 

 salt. Such has been found to be the case. 



This behavior of salts of higher type appears to be quite general 

 and is not confined to aqueous solutions. In Table XXXIV are given 

 conductance values for solutions of strontium and barium nitrates in 

 ammonia. It will be observed that in both cases the limiting value of 

 the molecular conductance is much higher than that of binary electro- 

 lytes and is, in fact, approximately twice that of these electrolytes. We 

 may assume, therefore, that in these solutions we have ultimately a 

 reaction corresponding to the type: 



It is apparent, however, that at a given concentration the number of 

 carriers present in solutions of these electrolytes is much lower than it is 

 in solutions of typical binary electrolytes. Owing to the low value of 

 the ionization, the values of A for electrolytes of this type have not been 

 determined with any degree of certainty. 



TABLE XXXIV. 

 CONDUCTANCE OF TERNARY SALTS IN NH 3 AT 33. 



Sr(N0 3 ) 2 25 Ba(N0 3 ) 2 26 



V Arnol V A mo l 



286.2 145.0 91.1 101.3 



1283.0 207.0 1407.0 2006 



5441.0 275.8 14950.0 3194 



20360.0 359.3 58750.0 4225 



61660.0 449.0 116500.0 4985 



151100.0 514.2 



Similar results have been obtained with solutions of ternary electro- 

 lytes in various other solvents, such as acetone, pyridine, and the like. 

 In many cases, however, the solubility of these salts is relatively low 

 and their ionization at ordinary concentrations is often extremely small. 

 They do not, therefore, lend themselves to a quantitative study of the 



"Franklin and Kraus, Am. Chem. J. 23, 292 (1900) 



38 Franklin and Kraus, J. Am. Chem. Hoc. 27, 200 (1905). 



