MOLARITY

I. Introduction

Knowing the concentration of a solution can help chemists to precisely mix and remix
substances to create a solution using the Molarity of that solution. In daily life, knowing the
Molarity can be helpful in mundane tasks as using laundry detergent, or as important as
knowing the dosage of a drug to take.

II. Discussion

The concentration of a solute in a solution is expressed as its Molarity. It tells you how
much of a solute is present. Molarity is the moles of solute in a solution divided by the liters of
solution.

Molarity (M) = Moles of solute / Liters of solution

There are three steps to converting grams of a substance to moles. (If given the number of
grams of solute present instead of the number of moles of solute)
1. Determine how many grams are given in the problem.
2. Calculate the molar mass of the substance.
3. Divide step one by step two.
* To determine the mass of a molecule, simply add up all of the atomic masses for the atoms
that make up the molecule.


Examples:

1. 4.35 moles of KMnO
4
are dissolved in enough water to give 750mL of solution.
Determine the molarity of the solution. (1L = 1000mL)

Given: 4.35 moles of KMnO
4
, 750mL .750L
Find: Molarity
Solution: M= (moles)/ (L)
M= 4.35 moles KMnO
4

.750 L solution

Molarity = 5.80 moles KMnO
4
/ L solution


2. Calcuate the molarity when 75.0 grams of MgCl
2
is dissolved in 500.0 mL of solution.










3. 49.8 grams of KI is dissolved in enough water to make 1.00 L of solution. What is the
molarity?








OSMOLARITY

I. Introduction

Osmolarity is a concept that allows you to determine if water will move from one side of a
membrane to the other side. That is: will Osmosis occur? Water will always move across a
membrane into the solution with the higher osmolarity.

II. Discussion
Osmolarity is the product of a solutions molarity and the number of particles produced per
formula unit if the solute dissociates. The equation for osmolarity is

Osmolarity = molarity x i

i represents the number of particles produced from the dissociation of one formula unit of
solute.

* The units of osmolarity are osmols (osm).

Examples:

1. Determine the osmolarity of 2M CaCl
2

Given: 2M, 3 = i

*the value of i is 3 because three ions are produced from the dissociation of one
CaCl
2
formula unit.
CaCl
2
Ca
2+
+ 2Cl
-

Find: Osmolarity
Solution: Osmolarity = Molarity x i
= 2M x 3

Osmolarity = 6 osmol







2. Calculate the osmolarity (osmol) of the following solutions.
a) 5.2 M Na
2
CO
3

Given: 5.2M, 3 = i ( Na
1+
+ CO
2+
)
Find : Osmolarity
Solution: Osmolarity = Molarity x i
= 5.2M x 3

Osmolarity = 15.6 osmol


b) 0.15 M Al(NO
3
)
3

Given: .15M, 4 = i (Al
3+
+ NO
3
1+
)
Find: Osmolarity
Solution: Osmolarity = Molarity x i
= 0.15M x 4

Osmolarity = 0.6 osmol








III. Reference

http://www.chemteam.info/Solutions/Molarity-problems-answers.html
http://www.fordhamprep.org/gcurran/sho/sho/lessons/lesson56.htm
http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/pherrman/documents/OsmolarityS10.pdf