Concentration of a Solution

The concentration of a solution is a measure of the amount of solute

per unit of solution

Dilute solution: relatively small amount of solute per unit volume of

solution

Concentrated solution: large amount of solute

Concentrated Solution: Dilute Solution:

Therefore, concentration =

Expressing Concentration (C):

1. By volume (v/v%)
2. By mass (w/v% or w/w%)
3. By molar concentration (molarity or amount concentration
mol/L)
 1) By volume (v/v%) used when mixing

Eg. 5% vinegar (acetic acid) means that in 100mL of vinegar, 5mL is

pure acetic acid

**Volume solution = volume solute + volume solution**

Eg 1). A bottle of hydrogen peroxide contains 9.0 mL of H2O2 in every

300mL bottle. What is the percentage concentration by volume?

Eg. 2) What volume of pure ethanol is required to make up a solution of

8.0% V/V of ethanol in a 750mL solution?

2a) By mass per volume (w/v%)

- often used to describe the solubility of substances in water. For

example, the solubility of sodium chloride is 36 g / 100 mL of
water at 25 oC.

Eg. 6% w/v hydrogen peroxide means that in 100mL of hydrogen

peroxide solution, there are 6 grams of dissolved H2O2.
Example: The recommended concentration of a solution of sodium
phosphate to clean walls before putting wallpaper on is 1.7% (w/v).
What mass of the solute is needed to make 2.0L solution?

Example: A pharmacist adds 2.00mL of distilled H20 to 4.00g of a

powdered drug. The final volume is 5.50mL. What is the [ ] of the drug
in w/v%

2b) By mass per mass (w/w%)

What is the w/w% of 16 g of potash in 454 g of rock crystal?

ALLOYS: Steel contains 98.3% Fe and 1.7% carbon (also manganese

and phosphorous). What mass of carbon is needed to make 5.0 kg
sample of steel?
Special Concentrations:

Parts per million (ppm - 106), Parts per billion (ppb - 109)
- Very dilute solutions
- Substances found in the body or in the environment in trace
amounts
- Examples of these substances are heavy metals, pesticides, air
pollutants, water contaminants, bio magnification.

- Ex. Mercury in fish is a common example, or traces of DDT or

pesticides in wildlife.

- Ex. CO(g) odorless gas that if absorbed into the blood stream will
impede delivery of O2 to tissues. Exposure may cause death
detectors are calibrated to detect 30ppm. Most people get a
headache when it reaches 400ppm

Eg. 5ppm for every I million parts, there are 5 parts of solute.

Useful Conversion factors:

1 mg ; 1 mL ; 1g ; 1 mg (same as mg per kg for

water)
1 kg 1000 L 1000 kg 1L

All of these are equal to 1ppm (1 part for every 1 million)

Example: A 2 kg gull is captured and tested for the presence of the

DDT pesticide (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane). If it is found that the
gull contains 99 ppm DDT, what mass of DDT is present?
Example: Seawater contains 4.0x10-6 ppm of dissolved gold. What
mass of seawater contains 1.0 g of gold?

Example: Health Canada recommends that fish containing more than

500 ppb of mercury should not be sold. What mass of mercury would
be present in a trout weighing 1.00 kg that has a mercury
concentration of 500 ppb?
Molar Concentration

Quantitaive method of expressing the ratio of moles of solute to the

total volume of solution (in litres)

M concentration or molarity (mol/L)

[ ] implies concentration of

Concentration (M) = moles solute (mol)

Volume of solution (L)

C = n/v

This is the most useful concentration unit in chemistry because it

allows you to calculate the amount of substance dissolved in moles
Which we will see is very important when discussing stoichiometry.

Eg. 1.5 mol/L means that in 1 litre of solution, there is 1.5 mol of
dissolved solute.

Demo have 1 litre of a 1.5 mol/L solution if I pour 300mL into a

separate beaker, what is the concentration now?

Example: Sodium bicarbonate is used medicinally to counteract

excess stomach acidity.

What is the concentration of a solution of baking soda (sodium

bicarbonate), which contains 69.2g of baking soda dissolved in enough
water to make 400 mL of solution?

Example: How many moles of solid sodium bicarbonate would be

needed to make 75.0 mL of a 0.660M solution suitable for use as an
antacid?
Example: How many litres of a 0.200M solution would contain 64.0 g
of copper II sulfate?

Extra Practice of Mixed (board)

M/V:
Saline solution (Ringers solution) contains three dissolved salts in the
same proportions and they are found naturally in blood.

0.86% NaCl (aq)

0.03% KCL (aq)
0.033% CaCl2 (aq)

Suppose a patient needs to receive 350mL of saline solution by IV.

What mass of each salt does the pharmacist need to make the
solution?

V/V:
What volume of pure ethanol is needed to make 750mL of 12% (v/)
alcohol solution?