# Commercially available concentrated sulfuric acid is 18.0 M H2SO4. What volume of concentrated H2SO4 would I use in order to make 3.00 L of a 4.0 M stock solution?

May 7, 2014

You would need 0.67 liters of the concentrated acid.

This question demonstrates a technique that chemists use on a regular basis; it is called dilution.

You will use the equation (M1)(V1) = (M2)(V2)

The original concentration x initial volume = final concentration x final volume.

In this example, the original concentration is the concentration of the concentrated sulfuric acid which is 12 Molar which is M1 and the final diluted concentration is 4 Molar (M2) with a final volume of 3.00 liters.

• To solve for V 1 , multiply 4.0 Molar by 3.00 L and divide by 18.0 M

• ${V}_{1}$ = $\frac{{M}_{2} . {V}_{2}}{M} _ 1$

• ${V}_{1}$ = ( 4.0 M . 3.00 L ) / (18.0 M

• ${V}_{1}$. = $0.67 L$

This means that you need to dilute 0.67 liters of the original stock solution of concentrated acid and add water until it is diluted to 3.00 liters.

Here is a video which illustrates another example using (M1)(V1) = (M2)(V2)