Conductivity of solutions of the potassium salts of carboxymethylcellulose and sulfonated polystyrene in the presence of potassium chloride

Abstract

Abstract The conductivity of the potassium salts of carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) and poly‐ p ‐styrene sulfonate (PSS) in the presence of KCl shows a behavior which is in striking contrast to the results of a previously developed theory: when the total concentration of K plus Cl ions is kept constant, the conductivity decreases with increasing polymer content in the majority of cases. Qualitatively this can be explained by a theory of the relaxation effect. This theory makes use of the model of a porous sphere in which the counter ions completely compensate the charge of the fixed ions. The use of the Debye‐Hückel approximation is avoided. The charge resulting from relaxation effects is treated as a surface charge.