# How can we make 10 fold dilution when we only have 0.5 ml of stock solution?

Sep 28, 2017

#### Answer:

Here's how you can do that.

#### Explanation:

The idea here is that in a $10$-fold dilution, the volume of the diluted solution is $10$ times higher than the volume of the stock solution.

This is equivalent to saying that the concentration of the stock solution is $10$ times lower than the concentration of the diluted solution.

In other words, you're performing a $1 : 10$ dilution, i.e. you're diluting the stock solution by a factor fo $10$.

$\text{DF" = V_"diluted"/V_"stock"" } \to$ the dilution factor

In your case, you have

${V}_{\text{diluted"/V_"stock" = 10 implies V_"diluted" = 10 * V_"stock}}$

This means that the volume of the diluted solution must be equal to

${V}_{\text{diluted" = 10 * "0.5 mL" = "5 mL}}$

So depending on the nature of the substance that you're diluting, you can add enough water to the stock solution to get the total volume to $\text{5 mL}$.

If you're dealing with a strong acid, you would add the stock solution to enough water to get the total volume of the solution to $\text{5 mL}$, preferably to cold water in multiple steps while stirring properly in between steps.