A dilution ratio question (What is 1:10) Poll please?

haaammit

haaammit

haaammit

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Well hi. I was mixing up some cleaning solution today and the instructions stated:

Dilute 1:10 in water

And it got me thinking. Do they mean mix 1 part of solution with 10 parts water (so 11 parts in total, so approx 9% strength) or do they mean mix 1 part solution to 9 parts water (so 10 parts in total, at 10% strength)

Seems it can be either! Yes I'm bored lol. Any chance of a poll? A:11 parts total @9% B:10 parts total @10% C:Get a life/Pancake

Ta
 
haaammit said:
Well hi. I was mixing up some cleaning solution today and the instructions stated:

Dilute 1:10 in water

And it got me thinking. Do they mean mix 1 part of solution with 10 parts water (so 11 parts in total, so approx 9% strength) or do they mean mix 1 part solution to 9 parts water (so 10 parts in total, at 10% strength)
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They mean take 1 volume of the solution and increase it by diluting it with water until its new volume is equivalent to 10 volumes. Yes, it's the same as doing a 10 times dilution on it, so that it's now at 10% of the original concentration.

This is very simple to do; for example, you just put 100 ml of the concentrated solution into a measuring flask/jug and add water until you have 1 litre of diluted solution.

Grrrrr said:
This is correct: "1 part of solution with 10 parts water (so 11 parts in total, so approx 9% strength)"
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No, it is incorrect. The approach I outlined above is standard practice in science labs internationally and so it's industry best practice too.

But you don't have to take my word for it: here is an explanation of dilution conventions.

(Edited to add a reference.)
 
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Maple Leaf said:
They mean take 1 volume of the solution and increase it by diluting it with water until its new volume is equivalent to 10 volumes. Yes, it's the same as doing a 10 times dilution on it, so that it's now at 10% of the original concentration.

This is very simple to do; for example, you just put 100 ml of the concentrated solution into a measuring flask/jug and add water until you have 1 litre of diluted solution.



No, it is incorrect. The approach I outlined above is standard practice in science labs internationally and so it's industry best practice too.
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Agree with this.
 
Which dilution did you use? And did the thing you were cleaning end up not clean enough, just the right amount of clean or too clean?

This should give you your answer :p
 
casper_uk said:
1:10 normally means 1 of what ever you are using in a total volume of 10. So 1ml cleaning solution and 9 ml water.
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No it doesn't. It means 1 part X and 10 parts Y.

When you mix mortar at 4:1, it means 4 parts sand 1 part cement for a total of 5 parts.

Now if they said a concentration of 10%, then that would be 1:9.
 
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I think some people are comparing "mix" with "dilute"? Mix 1:10 generally means 1 part of A plus 10 parts of B. "Dilute" generally means (and always to a scientist) make 1 part of A up to ten times the original volume with B (1+9 effectively). That said, a lot of instruction manuals are written by people with no scientific background, and who think the two terms have the same meaninhg
 
Maple Leaf said:
No, it is incorrect. The approach I outlined above is standard practice in science labs internationally and so it's industry best practice too.

But you don't have to take my word for it: here is an explanation of dilution conventions.
Click to expand...

Damn, chemists are wierd! That's very sus, I'm not sure that is correct!

danlightbulb said:
No it doesn't. It means 1 part X and 10 parts Y.

When you mix mortar at 4:1, it means 4 parts sand 1 part cement for a total of 5 parts.

Now if they said a concentration of 10%, then that would be 1:9.
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No, Mapel Leaf is correct and has backed it up, it's not intuitive though but it seems to be some weird quirk in chemistry that has become standard now.

Mixing cement is just using a standard ratio and that is indeed how a ratio is interpreted normally but apparently Chemists have decided to be weird and dilutions don't follow the regular convention.

edit - actually there isn't much consistency here, this document describes a dilution as a regular ratio:

Loading…

faculty.weber.edu
"For example, if a sample of salt water were diluted 1:3 withwater, one volume of salt water would be mixed with three volumes of water, yielding a total finalvolume of 4 volumes."

and actually checking industry practices, this describes the exact question the OP asks and they're interpreting it as a normal ratio too:

www.valetpro.global

Dilution Ratios Explained - A Manufacturers Guide & Perspective - ValetPRO

Dilution Ratios: a manufacturer's guide to getting the best out of your product. They can seem daunting, but the math is simple!
www.valetpro.global www.valetpro.global
A few other examples

Classic All Purpose Cleaner – Dilute 1:10

Trigger Bottle: 1L

1 + 10 = 11

1000 / 11 = 90 (rounded down)

1000 – 90 = 910

Answer: 90ml of PRODUCT to 910ml of WATER.
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So Mapel Leaf might be wrong actually.
 
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dowie said:
Mixing cement is just using a standard ratio and that is indeed how a ratio is interpreted normally but apparently Chemists have decided to be weird and dilutions don't follow the regular convention.
Click to expand...

But are we talking precision chemistry here or just instructions on a bottle of some supermarket product?

99% of people will interpret as a standard ratio.
 
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