Examples of electrolytes are

• A. Sulfuric acid, sodium hydroxide, sodium chloride
• B. Water
• C. Oxygen
• D. Hydrogen

Answer: (A)

Electrolytes are substances that dissociate into ions in solution and therefore conduct electricity. This is true for acids, bases, and salts. The example trio shown—sulfuric acid, sodium hydroxide, and sodium chloride—dissolves in water to yield charged particles: H+ and sulfate species for the acid, Na+ and OH− for the base, and Na+ and Cl− for the salt. Those ions carry current, so the solution acts as an electrolyte.

Water itself mainly acts as a solvent and, at a very small level, can undergo self-ionization to form a tiny amount of H+ and OH−, so it conducts only weakly. It isn’t typically classified as an electrolyte in the same sense as the others. Oxygen and hydrogen are diatomic molecules and do not produce ions in solution under normal conditions, so they don’t behave as electrolytes.