Introduction
A serial dilution is a series of dilutions made sequentially, using the same dilution factor for each step. The concentration factor is the initial volume divided by the final solution volume; the dilution factor would be the inverse of the concentration factor. For example, if you take 1 part of a sample and add 9 parts of water (solvent), then you have made a 1:10 dilution; this is 1/10th (0.1) of the concentration of the original solution and has a dilution factor of 10. These serial dilutions are often used to determine the approximate concentration of an enzyme (or molecule) to be quantified in an assay. Serial dilutions allow for small aliquots to be diluted instead of wasting large quantities of materials, are cost-effective, and are easy to prepare.
- Serial dilution is a simple yet efficient technique to determine the number of cells or organisms in a concentrated sample. First, take a portion of the sample and does serial dilution on it. Repeat the steps until the cells can be observed under the microscope when the diluted sample was observed.
- With each sequential serial dilution step, transfer inaccuracies lead to less accurate and less precise dispensing. The result is that the highest dilutions will have the most inaccurate results.
Making a 10 Fold Dilution The first step in making a serial dilution is to take a known volume (usually 1ml) of stock and place it into a known volume of distilled water (usually 9ml). This produces 10ml of the dilute solution. This dilute solution has 1ml of extract /10ml, producing a 10-fold dilution. SERIAL DILUTIONS – TUBE METHOD Principle Serial dilution is a common technique used in many immunologic procedures. A small amount of serum or solute can be serially diluted by transferring aliquots to diluent. One of the most common series doubles the dilution factor with each transfer (1:2, 1:4, 1:8.
Serial Dilution Step By Step
Equation 1.
[concentration factor= frac{volume_{initial}}{volume_{final}}nonumber]
Serial Dilution Steps Calculator
[dilution factor= frac{1}{concentration factor}nonumber]
Diagram of 1:2 Serial Dilutions
In your notebook, draw a diagram showing the serial dilutions for the 6 KMnO4 solutions you are preparing. In the diagram, indicate the volume being withdrawn from the concentrated solution, the volume of water added, the concentration of the new solution, and the total volume.