Grade 7 Science: Matter

11 Diversity of Materials in
the Environment
Concentration of Solutions
The concentration
describes the relative amounts of solut
e and solventin a given volume of
solution. When there is a large
amount of dissolvedsolute for a
certain volume of solvent, the solution
is
concentrated
.A
dilute
solution has a small amount of
dissolved solute in comparison to
theamount of solvent.You will be able
to distinguish between concentrated
and dilutesolutions from a simple
demonstration your teacher will
perform. You willdescribe the
concentrations of solutions
qualitatively (by simply
observingtheir appearance) and
quantitatively (by comparing the
number of drops pervolume of
water).From Part 1 of the
demonstration, you were able to
describe thesolutions as having
quantitative concentrations of 1
drop/50 mL
and 10drops/50 mL. Qualitatively,
you were able to distinguish the bottle
with 10drops/50 mL more
concentrated (darker) than the bottle
with 1 drop/50 mL.Now that you have
distinguished dilute from concentrated
solutions
qualitatively and quantitatively from
your teachers demonstration, you can
express concentration in other ways
such as:(1)
percent by volume
, which is the amount of solute in a
givenvolume of solution expressed as
grams solute per 100 millliter of

solution
(g/100 mL), and(2)
percent by mass,
which is the amount of solute in a
given mass of solvent expressed as
grams solute per 100 grams of
solution
.Labels of products sold often show
the concentrations of
solutesexpressed as percent (%) by
volume or mass. The alcohol used as
adisinfectant is a solution of 70%
ethyl or isopropyl alcohol and 30%
water. There are also solutions sold as
40% ethyl or isopropyl alcohol and 60
%water.
Vinegar is often labeled as 5%
acidity, which means that it contains
5
grams of acetic acid in 100 g of
vinegar. The common antiseptic,
agua oxinada
is a 3%solution of hydrogen peroxide
in
water. The concentration of solid solut
ions, like gold jewelry, is expressed as
karat
. An 18 karat (18K) gold contains
18 parts gold and 6 parts of

Grade 7 Science: Matter

12
Diversity of Materials in
the Environment
another metal, making it 75% gold
while a 14 karat (14K) gold contains
14parts gold and 10 parts of another
metal, making it 58.3% gold. The
following sample problems show you
that there is a way to know theexact
ratio of solute to solvent, which
specifies the concentration of
asolution.
Sample problem 1
How many mL of ethyl alcohol are
present in a 50 mL bottle of
rubbingalcohol?
Calculation for sample
problem 1

Since rubbing alcohol contains 70%

ethyl alcohol, it means that 100mL of
rubbing alcohol contains 70 mL ethyl
alcohol and 30 mL water. So,the
following calculations show that in 50
mL of rubbing alcohol, there is 35mL
ethyl alcohol and 15 mL water.All
portions of a solution have the same c
oncentration. Thecomposition of one
part is also the same as the
composition of the otherparts. But
you can change the concentration of
solutions. This means youcan prepare
different solutions of sugar in water of
different concentrations(for example,
10%, 20%, or 30%). In the same way,
you can prepare differentsolutions of
salt in water.
Sample problem 2

A one peso coin has a mass of 6.0

grams. How many grams of copperare
in a one peso coin containing 75%
copper by mass?
Calculation for sample
problem 2
75% by mass means 75 grams of copper in
100 grams of one pesocoin.
50 mL rubbing alcohol x70 mL ethyl
alcohol100 mLrubbing alcohol= 35 mL
ethyl alcohol