376 PROPERTIES OF ELECTRICALLY CONDUCTING SYSTEMS 



function of the concentration. According to these views the state of a 

 metal dissolved in ammonia does not differ materially from that of a 

 salt of the same metal dissolved in this solvent. The only material dif- 

 ference lies in the fact that, whereas in the metal solution the negative 

 electron functions as negative carrier, in the salt solution, a negative 

 ion, that is, a negative electron attached to an atomic complex, serves 

 as negative carrier. We should therefore expect the equivalent con- 

 ductance in dilute solutions to vary as a function of the concentration 

 in a manner similar to that of normal electrolytes. In other words, with 

 decreasing concentration of the solution, the equivalent conductance 

 should increase and approach a limiting value. 



In Table CL are given values of the equivalent conductance of solu- 

 tions of sodium in liquid ammonia at its boiling point at different con- 

 centrations. The density of the solutions not being known, the dilu- 

 tions given under the column headed V represent the number of liters of 

 pure ammonia of density 0.674, in which one atom of sodium is dis- 

 solved. In the more concentrated solutions the density is considerably 

 lower than that of pure ammonia. 



TABLE CL. 



CONDUCTANCE OF SODIUM IN AMMONIA AT 33.5 . 5 



FA FA 



0.5047 82490. 13.86 478.3 



0.6005 44100. 30.40 478.5 



0.6941 23350. 65.60 540.3 



0.7861 12350. 146.0 650.3 



0.8778 7224. 318.6 773.4 



0.9570 4700. 690.1 869.4 



1.038 3228. 1551.0 956.6 



1.239 2017. 3479.0 988.6 



2.798 749.4 7651.0 1009.0 



6.305 554.7 17260.0 1016.0 



37880.0 1034.0 



In Figure 65 the upper curve represents the equivalent conductance as 

 a function of log V up to a concentration of approximately normal. From 

 an inspection of the table and the accompanying figure, it will be seen 

 that the conductance curve exhibits a minimum in the neighborhood of 

 0.05 N. At lower concentrations the equivalent conductance increases 

 as the concentration decreases and approaches a limiting value in the 

 neighborhood of 1016. The form of the curve at these concentrations is 



Kraus, loc. cit. 



