KINETICS OF CERTAIN SILVER SALTS 285 



Argentic nitrate has been carefully studied by Hittorf, 1 

 who found that between the concentrations 0.3 and 0.024 

 the rate of transference does not vary, the mean value being 

 0.526 at 19. We came to the same conclusions for variations 

 of concentration [116] from 0.1 to 0.01, and we found a value 

 which, when reduced to the same temperature, very nearly 

 agreed with his, 0.527 at 19. The acetate result given 

 above also agrees well with Hittorf 's (0.373 where 2 = 15 and 

 m= 0.05). 



6. CONDUCTING POWER OF THE SILVER SALTS AND ITS RELA- 

 TION TO THE RATE OF TRANSFERENCE 



It will be noted that the rate of transference is a value 

 varying with the compound, since it merely expresses the 

 share of the one ion in the total movement. If u is the ac- 

 tual velocity of the positive ion and v that of the anion, 



n= - ; and the rate of the positive ion, l-n= -- . Kohl- 



u+v u+v 



rausch, 2 as is well known, has propounded the simple hy- 

 pothesis that the conducting power of a molecule of an 

 electrolyte is represented by the sum of the velocities of 



itsions > 



His experiments, however, did not seem to give the re- 

 quisite support to this theory, some salts giving approximate 

 results, but those of weak bases and acids giving utterly dis- 

 cordant figures. The difficulty is removed if we assume that 

 the conduction is not performed by all the molecules of the 

 electrolyte, but only by those whose ions are actually in 

 independent motion. This is Arrhenius's principle of conduc- 

 tive activity. 3 Kohlrausch's values for molecular conduc- 



1 Pogg. Annalen, 89, 199. 



* FT. Kohlrausch, Wied. Annalen, 6, 1. 



1 S. 'Arrhenius, Sur la conductibttiti, etc., Stockholm, 1884. 



