Concentration Units

Source: Laboratory of Dr. Michael Evans — Georgia Institute of Technology A solution is a homogeneous mixture containing some components in small amounts, called solutes, and one component in a large amount, called the solvent. Solid-liquid solutions contain one or more solid solutes dissolved in a liquid solvent. Solutions are ubiquitous in chemistry: they are used to store and handle small amounts of material, carry out chemical reactions, and develop materials with controllable properties.

Chemical Kinetics and the Reaction Rate Law Chemical kinetics refers to the rate or speed of a chemical reaction. The rate depends on the mechanism, complexity, and number of reactants in the reaction. Reactant concentration also plays a significant role in the rate of a reaction. The rate law quantifies this relationship through experimentation. Each reactant contributes to the speed of the reaction by a factor known as the reaction order. This factor can range from zero to two, and it depends...

Every measurement provides three kinds of information: the size or magnitude of the measurement (a number), a standard of comparison for the measurement (a unit), and an indication of the uncertainty of the measurement. While the number and unit are explicitly represented when a quantity is written, the uncertainty is an aspect of the errors in the measurement results. The number in the measurement can be represented in different ways, including decimal form and scientific notation, which is...

The International System of Units or SI system, by international agreement, has fixed measurement units for seven fundamental properties: length, mass, time, temperature, electric current, amount of substance, and luminosity. These are called the SI base units. Units of measurement derived from the mathematical combination of SI base units are called SI-derived units. For example, the ratio of the SI unit for distance (meter; m) and the SI unit for time (second; s) gives the SI-derived unit...

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.