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Is hot water or cold water more conductive for electricity or is it the same regardless?

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  • $\begingroup$ i.sstatic.net/Lvx3j.png $\endgroup$
    – user42744
    Commented Mar 31, 2014 at 21:36
  • $\begingroup$ Electricity doesn't have conductivity, materials do. $\endgroup$
    – jinawee
    Commented Mar 31, 2014 at 21:50

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The electrical conductivity of the water depends on the water temperature : the higher the temperature, the higher the electrical conductivity would be. The electrical conductivity of water increases by 2-3% for an increase of 1 degree Celsius of water temperature. Many EC meters nowadays automatically standardize the readings to 25$^{\circ}$C.

While the electrical conductivity is a good indicator of the total salinity, it still does not provide any information about the ion composition in the water.

The same electrical conductivity values can be measured in low quality water (e.g. water rich with Sodium, Boron and Fluorides) as well as in high quality irrigation water (e.g. adequately fertilized water with appropriate nutrient concentrations and ratios).

http://www.smart-fertilizer.com/articles/electrical-conductivity

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Hot water is more conductive than cold water.

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    $\begingroup$ Welcome to the site! We expect answers here to back up their assertions with appropriate arguments and references; could you elaborate some more on this? $\endgroup$
    – Emilio Pisanty
    Commented Apr 1, 2014 at 14:28
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Hot water is not a good conductor of electricity because when water is heated it becomes less impure because of which it dissociates less ions and hence conducts less electricity than cold water

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    $\begingroup$ Welcome to Physics SE :) Can you state your idea a bit more clearly, maybe explaining it more in detail? As it is, I am having trouble understanding what exactly you mean. $\endgroup$
    – Sanya
    Commented Dec 14, 2016 at 12:12
  • $\begingroup$ When water is heated, the process of evaporation takes place because of which water gets purified so it is left with less ions to carry electricity. Because of which it conducts electricity but not better than cold water $\endgroup$
    – Priyanka
    Commented Dec 14, 2016 at 14:57
  • $\begingroup$ It doesn't matter that the water is cold or hot............. The conduction is same $\endgroup$
    – Priyanka
    Commented Dec 15, 2016 at 13:49
  • $\begingroup$ According to empirical steam tables, water becomes highly conductive at superheated levels and there is evidence that when water is super-cooled it becomes equally conductive as the crystalline structure changes to Rhombic from ortho-rhombic $\endgroup$
    – Rhodie
    Commented Feb 26, 2020 at 2:05