Question

A 40-mL vial of sodium chloride solution was diluted to 1 liter with sterile
distilled water. The concentration (w/v) of sodium chloride (NaCl) in the
finished product was 0.585%. What was the concentration, in milliequivalents
per milliliter, of the original solution?

Answer 1

0.1meq/ml

Answer 2

The original solution had a concentration of 5.85 milliequivalents per milliliter (mEq/mL). To calculate this, we need to first calculate the amount of sodium chloride in the original solution. Since the concentration of the finished product was 0.585%, we can calculate that the original solution had 0.585 g of sodium chloride per 100 mL of solution. Since sodium chloride is a 1:1 electrolyte, this means that there were 0.585 mEq of sodium chloride per 100 mL of solution. To convert this to mEq/mL, we need to divide by 10, giving us a result of 5.85 mEq/mL.