Molar concentration

Molar concentration, or molarity, or simply concentration, is a term in chemistry, and its physical chemistry branch. It measures the concentration of a solution or mixture.

In chemistry, the molar concentration, $c_i$ is defined as the amount of a constituent $n_i$ (usually measured in moles – hence the name) divided by the volume of the mixture $V$:

$c_i=\frac{n_i}{V}$

The volume $V$ in the definition $c_i=n_i/V$ refers to the volume of the solution, not the volume of the solvent. One litre of a solution usually contains either slightly more or slightly less than 1 litre of solvent because when a substance dissolves in a solvent it causes volume of liquid to increase or decrease.

The reciprocal quantity represents the dilution (volume) which can appear in Ostwald's law of dilution.

Other websites

• Molarity -Citizendium