Friday, 8 December 2017

When an electrolyte really means dissolved salt


I was interested in the use of the word "electrolyte" on this product. An electrolyte is when an ionic compound dissociates when it dissolves in water so that the ions are no longer bonded and are free to move. They can move to the electrodes so that a current flows. I read the details. It seems to me to suggest that they took spring water and distilled it. So they took water with salts dissolved in and distilled it so that the salts were removed. Then they added "electrolytes". The list says the electrolytes are calcium chloride, magnesium chloride and potassium bicarbonate. These are what I'd normally call salts. They do dissociate in water and so could be called electrolytes.