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1.3 Molarity

Learning Objectives

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

  • Describe the fundamental properties of solutions
  • Calculate solution concentrations using molarity
  • Perform dilution calculations using the dilution equation
A picture is shown of sugar being poured from a spoon into a cup.
Figure 1.3.1 – Sugar is one of many components in the complex mixture known as coffee. The amount of sugar in a given amount of coffee is an important determinant of the beverage’s sweetness. (credit: Jane Whitney)

Preceding sections of this chapter focused on the composition of substances: samples of matter that contain only one type of element or compound. However, mixtures—samples of matter containing two or more substances physically combined—are more commonly encountered in nature than are pure substances. Similar to a pure substance, the relative composition of a mixture plays an important role in determining its properties. The relative amount of oxygen in a planet’s atmosphere determines its ability to sustain aerobic life. The relative amounts of iron, carbon, nickel, and other elements in steel (a mixture known as an “alloy”) determine its physical strength and resistance to corrosion. The relative amount of the active ingredient in a medicine determines its effectiveness in achieving the desired pharmacological effect. The relative amount of sugar in a beverage determines its sweetness (see (Figure 1.3.1)). This section will describe one of the most common ways in which the relative compositions of mixtures may be quantified.

Solutions

Solutions have previously been defined as homogeneous mixtures, meaning that the composition of the mixture (and therefore its properties) is uniform throughout its entire volume. Solutions occur frequently in nature and have also been implemented in many forms of manmade technology. A more thorough treatment of solution properties is provided in the chapter on solutions and colloids, but provided here is an introduction to some of the basic properties of solutions.

The relative amount of a given solution component is known as its concentration. Often, though not always, a solution contains one component with a concentration that is significantly greater than that of all other components. This component is called the solvent and may be viewed as the medium in which the other components are dispersed, or dissolved. Solutions in which water is the solvent are, of course, very common on our planet. A solution in which water is the solvent is called an aqueous solution.

A solute is a component of a solution that is typically present at a much lower concentration than the solvent. Solute concentrations are often described with qualitative terms such as dilute (of relatively low concentration) and concentrated (of relatively high concentration).

Concentrations may be quantitatively assessed using a wide variety of measurement units, each convenient for particular applications. Molarity (M) is a useful concentration unit for many applications in chemistry. Molarity is defined as the number of moles of solute in exactly 1 liter (1 L) of the solution:

M=\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\frac{\text{mol solute}}{\text{L solution}}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}

 

Activity 1.3.1 – Calculating Molar Concentrations

A 355 mL soft drink sample contains 0.133 mol of sucrose (table sugar). What is the molar concentration of sucrose in the beverage?

Solution

Since the molar amount of solute and the volume of solution are both given, the molarity can be calculated using the definition of molarity. Per this definition, the solution volume must be converted from mL to L:

M=\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\frac{\text{mol solute}}{\text{L solution}}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\frac{0.133\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\text{mol}}{355\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\text{mL}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\times\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\frac{1\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\text{L}}{1000\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\text{mL}}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}=0.375\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}M


Check Your Learning

A teaspoon of table sugar contains about 0.01 mol sucrose. What is the molarity of sucrose if a teaspoon of sugar has been dissolved in a cup of tea with a volume of 200 mL?

Answer

0.05M

Activity 1.3.2 – Deriving Moles and Volumes from Molar Concentrations

How much sugar (mol) is contained in a modest sip (~10 mL) of the soft drink from Activity 1.3.1?

Solution

Rearrange the definition of molarity to isolate the quantity sought, moles of sugar, then substitute the value for molarity derived in (Activity 1.3.1), 0.375 M:

\begin{array}{c}\\ M=\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\frac{\text{mol solute}}{\text{L solution}}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\\ \text{mol solute}=M\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\times\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\text{L solution}\\ \\ \text{mol solute}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}0.375\phantom{\rule{0.4em}{0ex}}\frac{\text{mol sugar}}{\text{L}}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\times\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\left(10\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\text{mL}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\times\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\frac{1\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\text{L}}{1000\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\text{mL}}\right)\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}0.004\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\text{mol sugar}\end{array}


Check Your Learning

What volume (mL) of the sweetened tea described in (Activity 1.3.1) contains the same amount of sugar (mol) as 10 mL of the soft drink in this example?

Answer

80 mL

Activity 1.3.3 – Calculating Molar Concentrations from the Mass of Solute

Distilled white vinegar is a solution of acetic acid, CH3CO2H, in water. A 0.500-L vinegar solution contains 25.2 g of acetic acid. What is the concentration of the acetic acid solution in units of molarity?

 

A label on a container is shown. The label has a picture of a salad with the words “Distilled White Vinegar,” and, “Reduced with water to 5% acidity,” written above it.
Figure 1.3.2 – Distilled white vinegar is a solution of acetic acid in water.

Solution

As in previous examples, the definition of molarity is the primary equation used to calculate the quantity sought. Since the mass of solute is provided instead of its molar amount, use the solute’s molar mass to obtain the amount of solute in moles:

M=\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\frac{\text{mol solute}}{\text{L solution}}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\frac{25.2 g\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}{\text{CH}}_{3}{\text{CO}}_{2}\text{H}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\times\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\frac{1\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}{\text{mol CH}}_{3}{\text{CO}}_{2}\text{H}}{{\text{60.052 g CH}}_{3}{\text{CO}}_{2}\text{H}}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}}{\text{0.500 L solution}}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}=0.839\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}M

\begin{array}{l}\\ M=\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\frac{\text{mol solute}}{\text{L solution}}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}=0.839\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}M\\ M=\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\frac{0.839\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\text{mol solute}}{1.00\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\text{L solution}}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\end{array}


Check Your Learning

Calculate the molarity of 6.52 g of CoCl2 (128.9 g/mol) dissolved in an aqueous solution with a total volume of 75.0 mL.

Answer

0.674 M

Activity 1.3.4 – Determining the Mass of Solute in a Given Volume of Solution

How many grams of NaCl are contained in 0.250 L of a 5.30 M solution?

Solution

The volume and molarity of the solution are specified, so the amount (mol) of solute is easily computed as demonstrated in (Activity 1.3.2):

\begin{array}{c}\\ M=\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\frac{\text{mol solute}}{\text{L solution}}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\\ \text{mol solute}=M\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\times\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\text{L solution}\\ \\ \text{mol solute}=5.30\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\frac{\text{mol NaCl}}{\text{L}}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\times\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}0.250\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\text{L}=1.325\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\text{mol NaCl}\end{array}

Finally, this molar amount is used to derive the mass of NaCl:

1.325{\text{mol NaCl}}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\times\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\frac{58.44\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\text{g NaCl}}{\text{mol NaCl}}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}=77.4\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\text{g NaCl}


Check Your Learning

How many grams of CaCl2 (110.98 g/mol) are contained in 250.0 mL of a 0.200 M solution of calcium chloride?

Answer

5.55 g CaCl2

When performing calculations stepwise, as in (Activity 1.3.4), it is important to refrain from rounding any intermediate calculation results, which can lead to rounding errors in the final result. In (Activity 1.3.4), the molar amount of NaCl computed in the first step, 1.325 mol, would be properly rounded to 1.32 mol if it were to be reported; however, although the last digit (5) is not significant, it must be retained as a guard digit in the intermediate calculation. If the guard digit had not been retained, the final calculation for the mass of NaCl would have been 77.1 g, a difference of 0.3 g.

In addition to retaining a guard digit for intermediate calculations, rounding errors may also be avoided by performing computations in a single step (see (Activity 1.3.5)). This eliminates intermediate steps so that only the final result is rounded.

Activity 1.3.5 – Determining the Volume of Solution Containing a Given Mass of Solute

In (Activity 1.3.3), the concentration of acetic acid in white vinegar was determined to be 0.839 M. What volume of vinegar contains 75.6 g of acetic acid?

Solution

First, use the molar mass to calculate moles of acetic acid from the given mass:

\text{g solute}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\times\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\frac{\text{mol solute}}{\text{g solute}}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}=\text{mol solute}

Then, use the molarity of the solution to calculate the volume of solution containing this molar amount of solute:

\text{mol solute}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\times\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\frac{\text{L solution}}{\text{mol solute}}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}=\text{L solution}

Combining these two steps into one yields:

\text{g solute}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\times\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\frac{\text{mol solute}}{\text{g solute}}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\times\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\frac{\text{L solution}}{\text{mol solute}}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}=\text{L solution}

75.6\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\text{g}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}{\text{CH}}_{3}{\text{CO}}_{2}\text{H}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\left(\frac{\text{mol}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}{\text{CH}}_{3}{\text{CO}}_{2}\text{H}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}}{60.05\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\text{g}}\right)\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\left(\frac{\text{L solution}}{0.839\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\text{mol}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}{\text{CH}}_{3}{\text{CO}}_{2}\text{H}}\right)\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}1.50\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\text{L solution}


Check Your Learning

What volume of a 1.50 M KBr solution contains 66.0 g KBr?

Answer

0.370 L

Dilution of Solutions

Dilution is the process whereby the concentration of a solution is lessened by the addition of solvent. For example, a glass of iced tea becomes increasingly diluted as the ice melts. The water from the melting ice increases the volume of the solvent (water) and the overall volume of the solution (iced tea), thereby reducing the relative concentrations of the solutes that give the beverage its taste (Figure 1.3.3).

 

This figure shows two graduated cylinders side-by-side. The first has about half as much blue liquid as the second. The blue liquid is darker in the first cylinder than in the second.
Figure 1.3.3 – Both solutions contain the same mass of copper nitrate. The solution on the right is more dilute because the copper nitrate is dissolved in more solvent. (credit: Mark Ott)

Glossary

aqueous solution

solution for which water is the solvent

concentrated

qualitative term for a solution containing solute at a relatively high concentration

concentration

quantitative measure of the relative amounts of solute and solvent present in a solution

dilute

qualitative term for a solution containing solute at a relatively low concentration

dilution

process of adding solvent to a solution in order to lower the concentration of solutes

dissolved

describes the process by which solute components are dispersed in a solvent

molarity (M)

unit of concentration, defined as the number of moles of solute dissolved in 1 liter of solution

solute

solution component present in a concentration less than that of the solvent

solvent

solution component present in a concentration that is higher relative to other components

definition

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Inorganic Chemistry for Chemical Engineers Copyright © 2020 by Vishakha Monga; Paul Flowers; Klaus Theopold; William R. Robinson; and Richard Langley is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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