Expressing Solution Concentration

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. Molarity is defined as the amount of solute in number of moles divided by the volume of the solution in liters:

Because solution volumes vary with temperature, molar concentrations will likewise vary. When expressed as molarity, the concentration of a solution with identical numbers of solute and solvent species will be different at different temperatures due to the contraction/expansion of the solution. More appropriate for calculations involving many colligative properties are mole-based concentration units whose values are not dependent on temperature. Two such units are mole fraction (introduced in the previous chapter on gases) and molality.

The mole fraction, χ_A, of a component is the ratio of its molar amount to the total number of moles of all solution components:

By this definition, the sum of mole fractions for all solution components (the solvent and all solutes) is equal to one.

Molality is a concentration unit defined as the ratio of the numbers of moles of solute to the mass of the solvent in kilograms:

Since these units are computed using only masses and molar amounts, they do not vary with temperature and, thus, are better suited for applications requiring temperature-independent concentrations.

This text is adapted from Openstax, Chemistry 2e, Section 11.4: Colligative Properties.