3 very useful equations for lab work

Get those calculators at the ready, concentration and dilution calculations are coming up in practical 3. To help you along with these, I though I'd share with you my top 3 all time favorite fantastic equations! I hope you will enjoy and cherish them as much as I have!

In no particular order....

If your mass is in grams, your moles will be in mol, if your mass is in mg, your moles will be mmol and so on - remember what your units are!
Molecular mass is the mass of one mole of something (so if you have the same mass as the molecular mass of something, you will have one mole - look at the equation above and check this works!) 

Molecular mass is often given to you, but if it isn't you can easily calculate it by adding up the relative atomic masses of all the atoms that make up the molecule you are dealing with....

Again, if your moles are in mol, your concentration will be in M, if your moles are in mmol, your concentration will be in mM. 

ALWAYS put your volume into LITRES - This is because the definition of concentration in molarity is moles per litre!!!

This equation is pure magic for making dilutions! So long as you know 3 of the four things, you can re-arrange it to find the fourth! C1 is the concentration you have of your starting solution, V1 is the volume you would need to take of your starting solution, C2 is the concentration you want after doing a dilution, V2 is the final volume of your solution after a dilution has been performed. 

Always come to the lab equipped with these equations, they will come in useful time and time again.