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Mixing Two Sources

This demonstration shows two sources of solute (dye) and a two chambers of water. The dye is poured into the individual chambers of water and then these two chambers of solution are combined into one larger container.

When you press the MIX STAGE 1 button, the dye will be poured from both sources into the top containers of water and mixed well instantaneously.

When you press the MIX STAGE 2 button, the solutions will be poured into the bottom container of water. The color of the solution is proportional to the concentration of dye.

Notice that in the time graph, the concentration does not change after mixing. In order to prepare for a later exercise with multiple mixing steps, time is measured here in "iterations". Only one iteration is considered here.

General Exercises

There is a relationship between the mass of dye, the volume of water and the concentration of dye. When combining two solutions the concentration of the third is found from the original solute and solvent as described on the concepts page.

This applet uses this relationship to determine the color of the water after mixing. Use the applet to get comfortable with the concept.

Determine the following concentrations analytically and verify with the applet. You can temporarily store your answers in this table, but the values will not be saved after you leave this page.

Mass 1
(mg)
Volume 1
(l)
Concentration 1
(mg/l)
Mass 2
(mg)
Volume 2
(l)
Concentration 2
(mg/l)
Concentration 3
(mg/l)
10 10

5 5


10 2

5 3


20 2

8 2


20 5

8 2


0 4

12 2


Dilution

Suppose that after you combine the solutions from container #1 and container #2 into container #3, you then want to further dilute the resulting solution in container #3. A simple way to do this would be to find several additional containers, fill them with pure solvent, and add their contents, one at a time, to container #3.


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