Quote:
Originally Posted by KathChem82
when NaCl is put into water it dissociates into its ionic forms, Na+ and Cl-. these ions allows the flow of electricity on your solution. thus conductivity occurs.
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Note/ The question wasn't about dissolving in water, it was about molten NaCl.
Metals are different from ionic substances because, even when metals are solid, they still have free electrons floating around to carry electricity.
In ionic solids, electrons aren't free to move around. In ionic solids, its the whole atom (more correctly the whole ion, which is an atom minus or plus an electron or two) that needs to move to carry electricity and this can only happen if the ionic solid is melted, or like KathChem said, dissolived in a liquid.