But as the very slightest expenditure
of energy is sufficient to produce the commencement of electrolysis,
it is necessary to suppose that these two ions are not united by any
force. Thus the two ions are, in a way, dissociated. Clausius, who was
the first to represent the phenomena by this symbol, supposed, in
order not to shock the feelings of chemists too much, that this
dissociation only affected an infinitesimal fraction of the total
number of the molecules of the salt, and thereby escaped all check.
This concession was unfortunate, and the hypothesis thus lost the
greater part of its usefulness. M. Arrhenius was bolder, and frankly
recognized that dissociation occurs at once in the case of a great
number of molecules, and tends to increase more and more as the
solution becomes more dilute. It follows the comparison with a gas
which, while partially dissociated in an enclosed space, becomes
wholly so in an infinite one.
M. Arrhenius was led to adopt this hypothesis by the examination of
experimental results relating to the conductivity of electrolytes.
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