Calculations that You Should Be Able to Do


The definition of percent volume in volume:

"The % v/v of any component is the number of cm3 of that component contained in 100 cm3 of the total product."

leads to the following equation:

% v/v = volume of component x              100              (ml/100 ml)
volume of product
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You need to be able to calculate all three parts of this equation given two of the others ie you need to be able to calculate:

  1. percent volume in volume
  2. the volume of a component
  3. the total volume of a product
This part of the equation shows what proportion 100 cm3 is of the total volume of solution present.

Once you know this proportion, you know that the same proportion of the total volume of component can be found in 100 cm3.
% v/v = volume of component x              100              (ml/100 ml)
volume of product
For example. Suppose 600 cm3 of a solution contains 12 cm3 of a component.
100 cm3 is one sixth of the total volume present.
Thus 100 cm3 must contain one sixth of the total volume of the component present. One sixth of the volume of component is 2 cm3.
Thus the concentration of the component is 2 cm3/100 cm3 ie 2 % v/v
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