[chris (OP)]

I was asked this on the radio today and had to admit that I don't have the foggiest! I know plenty that don't conduct; I volunteered hydrogen as this is pretty weird when it gets cold, and possible oxygen because it's paramagnetic, but can anyone put me straight?

Chris

[RD]

I just heard a seminar by an expert on conduction in liquids.
HE says that experimentally, liquefied rare gases(liquid argon, liquid neon, etc) conduct electric
charges more QUICKLY than even metallic copper...and that they are the fastest-conducting liquids.
 However, they can only handle very low densities of current before they refuse to carry any more.
So liquid mercury is still probably a "better" conductor. But electrons pass through liquid argon much more QUICKLY (and with less resistance)than they do through liquefied metals, or even solid metals.

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/gen99/gen99136.htm

[lightarrow]

Probably HF, hydrogen fluoride, is, because it dissociate forming ions:

2HF → H⁺ + FHF⁻

(and the ions conduct electricity, of course).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_fluoride

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrofluoric_acid

[Chemistry4me]

Really? FHF^- How does that look like? Two F's bonded together and a H at the end?

[lightarrow]

Really? FHF^- How does that look like? Two F's bonded together and a H at the end?

Yes, it's weird:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bifluoride

The ion exists even in salts:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_bifluoride
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_bifluoride

[Chemistry4me]

Thanks for the links.
It has a three-center four-electron bond eh? Funny that.

[cedar_tree]

gaseous liquids are to be charted and graphed for their electron covalent bond structures. If the electrons are free, then the liquid would conduct. if the electrons hold still, that's the story you must figure and i did it already.

DONT try it at home,

http://webelements.com/periodicity/electron_affinity/ [nofollow]

[Bored chemist]

I don't know, but I'd try liquid ammonia.

[lightarrow]

gaseous liquids are to be charted and graphed for their electron covalent bond structures. If the electrons are free

If the electrons are free it's a metal, not a molecular compound.

[Chemistry4me]

Touché.

[cedar_tree]

I don't even know if you are using a DC or AC test on a liquid, the answer would be no straight away for DC current.
molecular compounds are used in semiconductors, and fluorescent glass tubes. It doesn't matter what is used if you can create high voltage potential. current is what is blocked by bound electrons in a solid material, but liquid IS different.  Melted plastic or rubber can shock you as if their molecular states where changing threw its length with conduction. heat causes electrons to become more excited around their nucleus. Mercury metal and its gas plays a game with the liquid state too (exchanges electrons easily, not absorbing them), but you shouldn't play with it, its toxic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_switch [nofollow]
I shocked myself once with high voltage passing threw soft warm rubber on a wooden stick a good distance away from the source like some van graaff spark generator with no moving belt. Electrons travel threw the outermost part of the material easier than the dead center of what is to be used for such experiment

don't try it at home, humans die from accidents misunderstanding matter moving at light speed.

from Wikipedia i dislike, and i just give a different clue

 "" A Compound Semiconductor is a semiconductor compound composed of elements from two or more different groups of the periodic table. For e.g. III-V (or 13-15) semiconductors are composed of elements from group 13 (B, Al, Ga, In) and from group 15 (N, P, As, Sb, Bi). The range of possible formulae is quite broad because these elements can form binary (two elements, e.g. GaAs), ternary (three elements, e.g. InGaAs) and quaternary (four elements, e.g. AlInGaP). See the list of semiconductor materials for compound families and examples.  ""
 
these materials conduct electrons readily and some gasses do the same thing radiating light wavelength's

for dangerous oxygen, i don't think its ever a good idea to pass electrons threw such oxidizer with out proper equipment removing nitrogen and other impure gasses from the setup that can ignite.

Ive owned a Wimshurst  machine that lasted years already and I don't use it for your type of experiments. Break some diodes and transistors instead to find out.

please visit www.webelements.com [nofollow]

[lightarrow]

molecular compounds are used in semiconductors, and fluorescent glass tubes. It doesn't matter what is used if you can create high voltage potential. current is what is blocked by bound electrons in a solid material, but liquid IS different.  Melted plastic or rubber can shock you as if their states where changing. heat causes electrons to become more excited around their nucleus. Mercury metal and its gas plays a game with liquid state too (exchanges electrons easily, not absorbing them), but you shouldn't play with it, its toxic.

i shocked myself once with high voltage passing threw soft warm rubber on a wooden stick a good distance away from the source like some van graaff spark generator with no moving belt. Electrons travel threw the outermost part of the material easier than the dead center of what is to be used for such experiment

don't try it at home, humans die from accidents misunderstanding matter moving at light speed.

from Wikipedia i dislike, and i just give a different clue

 "" A Compound Semiconductor is a semiconductor compound composed of elements from two or more different groups of the periodic table. For e.g. III-V (or 13-15) semiconductors are composed of elements from group 13 (B, Al, Ga, In) and from group 15 (N, P, As, Sb, Bi). The range of possible formulae is quite broad because these elements can form binary (two elements, e.g. GaAs), ternary (three elements, e.g. InGaAs) and quaternary (four elements, e.g. AlInGaP). See the list of semiconductor materials for compound families and examples.  ""
 
these materials conduct electrons readily and some gasses do the same thing radiating light wavelength's

for dangerous oxygen, i don't think its ever a good idea to pass electrons threw such oxidizer with out proper equipment removing nitrogen and other impure gasses from the setup that can ignite.

Ive owned a Wimshurst  machine that lasted years already and I don't use it for your type of experiments. Break some diodes and transistors instead to find out.

please visit www.webelements.com

It seems a soup of words mixed together. I wonder what it could mean.

[cedar_tree]

are you choking light arrow or are you playing with the soup? For what i heard on this topic , someone wanted to kill you with their stupidity.

Chris is from the university Cambridge in England, i bet he was joking to invent something the USA has already.

H20 - steam is a gas process

[Chemistry4me]

please visit www.webelements.com

For some reason it doesn't work, neither does the one on your profile.

[Chemistry4me]

Well, now that you mention it, I have noticed the eccentricity of his previous posts.

[lightarrow]

Well, now that you mention it, I have noticed the eccentricity of his previous posts.

Sorry, I have deleted the post you are referring to. Anyway, yes, I can't understand what he tries to say in his posts.