Review for Analytical Chemistry Techniques

A common task in a biotechnology lab is preparing solutions.  What exactly is a solution?  A solution is a mixture of what is dissolved (the solute) and the dissolving medium (the solvent).  For example, if you are making  Glucose solution the colored sugar is the solute and the pitcher of water is the solvent.  The concentration of a solution is the ratio of the amount of solute to solvent.  It is necessary to prepare solutions with the correct concentration or you can destroy months of hard work in a biotechnology lab.
Most aqueous solutions are colourless,so there is no way of knowing,by looking at them, how much of the solute is present in the solution. As we often need to know the amount of solute in the solution, it is important that solutions be labelled with this information. We use a ratio that compares the quantity of solute to the quantity of the solution. This ratio is called the solution’s concentration.Chemists describe a solution of a given substance as dilute if it has a relatively small quantity of solute per unit volume of solution (Figure 1). A concentrated solution,on the other hand,has a relatively large quantity of solute per unit volume of solution.