Sulfuric acid is normally purchased at a concentration of...

Sulfuric acid is normally purchased at a concentration of 18.0 M. How would you prepare 250.0 $\mathrm{mL}$ of 0.500 $\mathrm{M}$ aqueous $\mathrm{H}_{2} \mathrm{SO}_{4} ?$ (Remember to add the acid to water rather than water to the acid.)

Key Concepts

Laboratory Safety Practices

When diluting acids such as sulfuric acid, it is essential to add the acid to water rather than the reverse. This practice minimizes the risk of an exothermic reaction and splashing, ensuring a safer laboratory environment during the dilution process.

Solution Preparation

Preparing a solution of a specific concentration involves accurately measuring both the concentrated stock solution and the diluent (typically water) and then mixing them to achieve the target volume and concentration. This process requires careful calculation and precise measurement to ensure the final solution is as intended.

Dilution Equation

The dilution equation, expressed as C1V1 = C2V2, is a fundamental concept used to relate the concentrations and volumes of solutions before and after dilution. This equation allows one to calculate the volume of a concentrated stock solution required to reach a desired concentration and volume when diluted.

Molarity

Molarity is a unit of concentration that expresses the number of moles of a solute per liter of solution. Understanding molarity is crucial for calculating how much of a concentrated solution is needed to make a desired final solution with a specific concentration.

Transcript

00:01 In this kind of question where we're looking at volumes and concentrations and dilutions, it helps to draw a picture, not just to get a conceptual understanding of what's going on, but especially because this question is asking essentially for a lab procedure.

00:15 So let's think about what we have.

00:16 We have 18 molar sulfuric acid, which let's say comes in a bottle that looks like this.

00:25 Okay.

00:26 So this is sulfuric acid with a concentration of 18 .0 molar.

00:32 This is very concentrated.

00:41 So actually i'm going to call this high concentration.

00:49 What we want to prepare is a solution.

00:52 This is not to scale.

00:55 Containing 250 milliliters.

01:03 So this is 250 milliliters of solution at a concentration of 0 .5 molar.

01:15 So this is a low concentration.

01:20 I'm going to represent that with, a few solute particles.