100mL solution of NaCl in water used 2.9g of salt. The final concentration is 0.50 M. express the concentration as a mass/volume %. How do these values compare to the molarity? Why? Show all calculations

mass/volume % formula is

mass of solute (g) / mass of solvent (mL)

1 Answer
Dec 11, 2016

"% m/v = 2.9% NaCl"

Explanation:

A solution's mass by volume percent concentration, "% m/v", is determined by looking at the number of grams of solute present in "100 mL" of solution.

In your case, "2.9 g" of sodium chloride, your solute, present in "100 mL" of solution would give you a "2.9% m/v" solution.

100 color(red)(cancel(color(black)("mL solution"))) * overbrace("2.9 g NaCl"/(100color(red)(cancel(color(black)("mL solution")))))^(color(purple)("given by the problem")) = "2.9 g NaCl"

Therefore, you have

color(darkgreen)(ul(color(black)("% m/v " = " 2.9% NaCl")))

As you know, the number of moles of solute is calculated by dividing its mass by its molar mass. In this case, sodium chloride has a molar mass of "58.44 g mol"^(-1), which means that you have

2.9 color(red)(cancel(color(black)("g"))) * "1 mole NaCl"/(58.44color(red)(cancel(color(black)("g")))) ~~ "0.050 moles NaCl"

Now, molarity, c, is calculated by taking into account the number of moles of solute present in "1 L" of solution, so

1color(red)(cancel(color(black)("L solution"))) * (10^3color(red)(cancel(color(black)("mL"))))/(1color(red)(cancel(color(black)("L")))) * "0.050 moles NaCl"/(100color(red)(cancel(color(black)("mL solution")))) = color(darkgreen)(ul(color(black)("0.50 M")))

As you can see, the mass by volume percent concentration has a higher value than the solution's molarity.

Now, in order to get from molarity to mass by volume percent concentration, you must

  • color(blue)(ul(color(black)("divide the molarity by 10")))
    This ensures that you're working with the number of moles of solute present in "100 mL" of solution
  • color(blue)(ul(color(black)("multiply the result by the molar mass of the solute")))
    This ensures that you;'re working with the number of grams of solute present in "100 mL" of solution

So, let's try this out using a "1.5-M" solution of sodium chloride. You will have

"1.5"/10 = 0.15 -> the number of moles of solute present in "100 mL" of solution

0.15 * 58.44 ~~ 8.8 -> the number of grams of solute present in "100 mL" of solution

Therefore, you can say that

color(darkgreen)(ul(color(black)("% m/v = 8.8% NaCl")))" " and " "color(darkgreen)(ul(color(black)(c_"NaCl" = "1.5 M")))