Diluted

Diluted refers to a substance, most commonly a solution, whose overall concentration has been decreased by adding solvent or removing solute. In everyday terms, dilution means making a solution weaker by adding more solvent, while the total amount of solute may remain unchanged.

In chemistry and laboratory practice, dilution is often achieved by adding a measured amount of solvent to a known volume of stock solution. The process is governed by the conservation of solute, and, for ideal mixing, the relation C1V1 = C2V2 holds, where C1 and V1 are the initial concentration and volume, and C2 and V2 are the final concentration and volume.

Dilution factor and percent change are used to quantify dilution. The dilution factor is the ratio of the original concentration to the final concentration, and the final concentration equals the initial concentration divided by the dilution factor. Serial dilutions, in which the dilution is repeated in steps, are common in microbiology and analytical chemistry to achieve very low concentrations.

In practice, dilution affects measurable properties such as color, odor, turbidity, and reaction rates. It is also a key concept in environmental science, where the concentration of pollutants decreases as they disperse in air or water, and in medicine, where dosing may depend on dilution to achieve an appropriate concentration for administration.