MIT Biological Engineering Department
20.109 - Laboratory Fundamentals in Biological Engineering, Spring 2006
Introduction to lab math
(Self-Guided)
The information and exercises provided here are intended to refresh your memory of
these concepts. If they are entirely new to you or if you are struggling with the practice
problems, please ask for extra help. It is absolutely essential that you are comfortable
with the information presented here.
Part 1: Metric system
This is the numerical language of science. Base units that you will most often use in this
class are meters, grams, liters, and moles. These units will be appended with prefixes to
modify the unit by a power of ten.
103 = 1000 = 1000/1 = 103/1 kilo (k-)
100 = 1 = 1/1 = 100/1 base unit (-g, -l, -mole…)
10-3 = 0.001 = 1/1000 = 1/103 milli (m-)
10-6 = 0.000001 = 1/1000000 = 1/106 micro (µ-)
Practice problems:
1. The distance between two cells in 800 µm. How many mm is that?
2. The amount of sorbitol you want to weigh is 1.9 g. How many mg is that?
3. The volume you want to measure is 100 ml. How many liters is that?
4. Your reaction generates 0.1 µmoles of product. How many mmoles is that?
Scientific notation expresses numbers so there is one digit to the left of the decimal point
and that number is multiplied by a power of ten. 2334 becomes 2.334 x 103 and 0.0041
becomes 4.1 x 10-3. Computations are easier with numbers in scientific notation and some
numbers that are easier to write (602,214,199,000,000,000,000,000 versus 6.02 x 1023).
Practice problems: Convert the following to scientific notation
1. 1000
2. 2
3. 0.0023
4. 0.000000467
The metric system and scientific notation go hand in hand, making unit conversions
straightforward. For example 100 µl can be converted to ml by writing the starting
volume in scientific notation (1.00 x 102 µl) and multiplying by the power of ten that
separates the units (1 ml = 1 x 103 µl). Set up every equation so the units will cancel
properly when you multiply through.
Practice problems: Be sure you can express your answers in scientific notation.
1. How many ml is 100 µl?
2. How many mg is .023 g?
3. How many mmoles is 250 µmoles?
Part 2: Concentrations
Molarity (moles/liter) is a common expression of concentration. When making a solution
of a particular molarity, you need to know three things: the desired molarity, the desired
volume and the formula weight of the compound to be dissolved. The best place to find
the formula weight (grams/mole) is on the chemical’s bottle. Calculations are performed
by setting up an equation so that the units cancel, leaving grams in the numerator and
volume in the denominator.
Another common expression of concentration is percent. Percent solutions are always
based on 100 ml. For powdered substances, percent solutions reflect the weight in a 100
ml volume (“w/v”). For example a 10% solution of NaCl is 10 grams in 100 ml of water.
In fact a 10% solution of any powdery substance is 10 grams in 100 ml. For liquids,
percent solutions reflect the volume in a 100 ml final volume (“v/v”). For example a 70%
ethanol solution is 70 ml of 100% ethanol and 30 ml of water. Remembering that 1 ml of
water weighs 1 gram may help you remember the w/v and v/v expressions.
Practice problems:
1. You want to make 100 ml of a 0.5M sorbitol solution. The formula weight of the
substance you want to dissolve is 182. How many grams will you measure?
2. You want to make 10 ml of a 0.01% (w/v) solution of XC. How many grams will
you dissolve?
3. How would you make 100 ml of a solution that is 5% (v/v) acetic acid and 5%
methanol?
Part 3: Dilutions
Many solutions are made by diluting concentrated stock solutions. Dilution factors of 1:2,
1:5, 1:10 and 1:100 are common. These dilutions are made by diluting one “part” stock
with 1, 4, 9 or 99 “parts” water. For example, you could make 100 ml of a 0.5M sorbitol
solution by mixing 10 ml of a 5M stock solution with 90 ml of water. This is a 1:10
dilution of the stock. The dilution factor can be converted to a fraction to determine the
solution’s final concentration (5M x 1/10 = 0.5M).
When the dilution factor is less obvious, the formula C1V1 = C2V2 can be used, where C1
is the starting concentration of the stock solution, C2 is the desired concentration, V1 is
the volume of stock you’ll need (usually this is your unknown) and V2 is the final volume
you want to make. For example, to make 1000 ml of a 0.2M Tris from a 1.5M stock you
would multiply 1.5M (V1) = 0.2M (1000) to find that you will need 133 ml of the stock.
To determine how much water to add you would subtract V2 – V1, in this case 1000 ml –
133 ml = 867 ml of water.
When solutions must be diluted several orders of magnitude, then serial dilutions are
made. The concentrated stock is progressively diluted, for example using a 1:100 dilution
as the new “stock” in another 1:100 dilution. Such a serial dilution produces a solution
that is 10,000 times less concentrated than the starting material. One benefit to serial
dilutions is that small volumes of each dilution can be made accurately. A drawback is
that any pipetting or calculation error is propagated through every dilution.
Practice Problems
1. How would you make 50 ml of a 1:5 dilution?
2. Give the volume of stock and the volume of water necessary to make 50 ml of a
0.25 M solution starting with a 2M solution.
3. A concentrated culture of bacteria has approximately 1 x 108 cells/ml. What is the
concentration of bacteria after it has been diluted 1:100? What is the
concentration of bacteria if a 1:2 dilution was made of the 1:100?
