The conductivity factor (CF) of dissolved

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quant ...

s in a given solution is a measurement of

conductivity Conductivity may refer to: *Electrical conductivity, a measure of a material's ability to conduct an electric current **Conductivity (electrolytic), the electrical conductivity of an electrolyte in solution ** Ionic conductivity (solid state), ele ...

. Using the electrical conductivity between two

electrode An electrode is an electrical conductor used to make contact with a nonmetallic part of a circuit (e.g. a semiconductor, an electrolyte, a vacuum or air). Electrodes are essential parts of batteries that can consist of a variety of materials d ...

s in a

water Water (chemical formula ) is an Inorganic compound, inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living ...

solution, the level of

dissolved solids In chemistry, a solution is a special type of homogeneous mixture composed of two or more substances. In such a mixture, a solute is a substance dissolved in another substance, known as a solvent. If the attractive forces between the solvent ...

in that solution can be measured. Measurements can then be used to dose the solution with the necessary nutrients in the case of

hydroponics Hydroponics is a type of horticulture and a subset of hydroculture which involves growing plants, usually crops or medicinal plants, without soil, by using water-based mineral nutrient solutions in aqueous solvents. Terrestrial or aquatic plant ...

. Conductivity measurements are also used in ecology and environmental sciences to assess the level of nutrients in lakes and rivers. For a discussion of conductivity in this context, see

Total dissolved solids Total dissolved solids (TDS) is a measure of the dissolved combined content of all inorganic and organic substances present in a liquid in molecular, ionized, or micro-granular ( colloidal sol) suspended form. TDS concentrations are often report ...

. CF (conductivity factor) is basically EC multiplied by 10, and is used in some places because it eliminates the need for a decimal point, so an EC of 0.1 is equal to a CF of 1. Electrical conductivity can be expressed using a number of different units but the international standard is EC, and the unit of measurement is usually milliSiemens or microSiemens. The difference between these two units of measurement is the placement of the decimal point, so 1 milliSiemens is equal to 1000 microSiemens.

References

See also