Question

What is solute concentration?

Answer 1

Solutions are made by dissolving a substance known as solute in another substance known as solvent. Concentration terms are used to define how much amount of a substance is present or dissolved in another substance.

Complete answer:
A homogeneous mixture that is composed of a solute in a solvent is known as solution. Solute is a substance that is being dissolved in another substance known as a solvent. Generally, solvent medium is the one that is present in larger amounts.
The concentration of a solute or solute concentration in a solution is a measure of how much of that solute is dissolved in the solvent, with regard to how much solvent is present.
There are multiple ways of calculating concentration of solute. The method we choose depends upon in what terms we need our concentration values. Each method provides different units of concentration. The most common units are molarity, molality, normality, mass percent, volume percent, and mole dfraction. These methods along with their formula are briefly given below:
1 – Molarity: It is used to represent the amount of moles of solute per liter of the solution.
$\text{Molarity}=\dfrac{\text{No}\text{. of Moles}}{\text{Volume of solution in liter}}$
2 – Molality: It is used to represent the amount of moles of solute per kilogram of the solvent.
$\text{Molality}=\dfrac{\text{No}\text{. of Moles}}{\text{Mass of solvent in kg}}$
3 – Normality: It represents the gram equivalent weight of solute per liter of solution.
$\text{Normality}=\dfrac{\text{No}\text{. of gram equivalent}}{\text{Volume of solution in liter}}$
4 – Mass percent: It is used to express the concentration of a solution when the mass of a solute and the mass of a solution is given.
$\text{Mass percent}=\dfrac{\text{Mass of solute}}{\text{Total mass of solution}}\times 100$
5 – Volume percent: It is used to express the concentration of a solution when the volume of a solute and the volume of a solution is given.
$\text{Volume percent}=\dfrac{\text{Volume of solute}}{\text{Total volume of solution}}\times 100$
6 – Mole dfraction: It is the dfraction of all solute particles out of the total number of solute particles.
$\text{Mole dfraction}=\dfrac{\text{No}\text{. of moles of solute}}{\text{Total no}\text{. of moles in solution}}$

Note:
A solution is said to be concentrated when the solute concentration is very high and a solution that is having solvent in a larger amount in comparison to solute is known as dilute solution.