Oooh 10 Million Gallons Over The Sea (Spongebob anyone?)

Who doesn't like to buy things in bulk? For example,  Kellogg's cereal.

We're not going to by a flake at a time, no. We will buy boxes of them, more importantly, boxes filled with those yummy cereal flakes.

Companies that buy chemicals also purchase in concentrated, bulk form. Why is this? I just decided to trust the word of a stranger, that if chemicals weren't shipped in bulk, "we would be hauling a lot of water around."

Enough digression; let's move on to the main topic: Dilution.

If nothing else, just remember this simple formula:

M₁L₁ = M₂L₂ 
If you'll recall, M stands for Molarity, which is given as M=mol/L.
In this formula, what it's basically saying is that the number of moles before dilution, and after dilution remain the same.

Example Time!

If you have 2.00L of 16.0M HCl and you need 800.mL of 2.00M HCl, how much of the original concentration do you need, and how much water do you need? Give answers in mL.

Step 1: Write out what you have first. 16.0M HCl * L₁ = 2.00M HCl * 0.800L

Step 2: Simplify with the information you are given. 16.0M HCl * L₁ = 1.60 mol HCl

Step 3: It's basically math...we're trying to find L1 so it should look something like this...

1.60 mol HCl = L1 0.100L or 100.mL

                                                 16.0M

What's up with those trailing zeros and decimal point? Well remember our meticulous friend...significant figures.

Bonus Step: Hmm... We have the solute but we are missing something... oh right! WATER

Well Mr.PinchofKCN how do we find that? 

Mr.PinchofKCN: SIMPLE! Just subtract the L2 with L1 that we just found above.

0.800L - 0.100L = O.700L=>700.mL of water is needed!

Now, instead of my half-rate explanation, how about a real demonstration by a credible scientist? I mean, he's on YouTube; he must be credible!

That is 3 minutes and 36 seconds of my life that I will never get back...

A cat to cheer us all up!