How much solvent do you add for a 1:20 dilution, and why is it called 1 to 20?
Dilution ratio 1 : N has 2 different, conflicting meanings:
- (1) The ratio of the 2 mixed volumes ( typical for 1 : 1 to 1 : 3, for everyday/household chemistry )
- (2) The ratio of the final and initial concentrations (typical for 1 : 5 and more, for using calibrated volumes and exact concentrations ).
Consult the context of your question, but the quote obviously considers the latter case. 1 : 20 means the solute concentration is 20 times lower than before dilution ( the second row below).
1 : 20(1) means 1 : 21(2) ( approximately(*) )
1 : 20(2) means 1 : 19(1) ( approximately )
(*) - There is one trap: It is better to say you take 1 volume of the stock solution and while mixing, you fill up by solvent the final volume N. As volumes are not generally additive. By other words, by mixing $\pu{10 mL}$ of solution and $\pu{190 mL}$ of solvent, you may not get $\pu{200 mL}$.
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Comments
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CottonTheButton 9 months
A 1:20 dilution implies that you take 1 part of stock solution and add 19 parts of water to get a total volume of diluted solution equal to 20 times that of the stock solution
So is
1:20
the way it is because the ratio issolute:solvent/diluent
, right? So the solvent/diluent is justn-1
of the solvent?-
Alchimista over 1 yearI would make a final solution with conc 1/20 of the initial one. See Poutnik point (2).
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CottonTheButton over 1 yearI read more articles and I (think) finally get it. The ratio is simply just the solute ratio to the solvent ratio.
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Poutnik over 1 yearBe sure about that ......