BIO1023 – BIOCHEMICAL CALCULATIONS

SUMMARY OF TERMS

1. Interconverting between units:

Unit  m (milli)  μ (micro)  n (nano)  …

Unit  k (kilo)  M (mega)  G (giga)  T (tera)  …

2. Powers with:

a positive sign: you multiply

10n = (10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x …)n, where n = 1,2,3,4,…
e.g. 103 = 10 x 10 x 10 = 1,000
a negative sign: you divide
10-n = 1/(10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x …)n, where n = 1,2,3,4,…
e.g. 10-3 = 1/(10x10x10) = 1/1,000 = 0.001

3. Interconverting between consecutive units

From consecutive large to small unit: factor 103 (e.g. 1 mL = 103 μL)
From consecutive small to large unit: factor 10-3 (e.g. 1 μL = 10-3 mL)

4. Relative molecular mass (Mr, RMM) of a molecule:

Mr = sum (Ar of all constituent atoms)

5. Mole (mol) = the amount of a molecule or substance equal to its Mr, expressed in
grams.

mole (mol) = Mr in grams

6. Molar mass

molar mass = the mass of 1 mol of a molecule or substance.

Units: g/mol

7. Calculating the number of moles of a sample: To find out how many moles of a
molecule/substance are there in a given mass of that substance:

number of moles = mass (g) / molar mass (g/mol) = mass (g) / Mr (g/mol)

8. Concentration of a substance in a solution:

Concentration = amount of substance in the solution / volume of solution

Concentration (C) = mass (g, mol, etc) / volume (L, mL, etc)

9. Molarity (M). A measure of concentration.

Molarity (M) = number of moles of a substance or molecule in 1 L of solution.

e.g. 1 M glucose solution = 1 mol glucose in 1 L

4 M NaCl solution = 4 moles NaCl in 1 L

Since mole = Mr in grams:

Molarity = Mr / 1 L
10. Preparing solutions of known molarity:
To calculate the mass (amount) of a substance required to prepare a solution of given
molarity:

Mass (g) = (Mr of substance) x (molarity (M) required) x (volume of solution)

11. Dilution factor:

Dilution factor = final volume / initial volume

e.g. dilution factor = 4 means that the initial solution is diluted 4 times, i.e. this is a 1 in
4 dilution.

12. Final concentration of a substance or molecule after it has been diluted to make
a new solution:

final concentration = initial concentration / (dilution factor)

13. The C1 x V1 = C2 x V2 formula

When diluting an initial, stock solution to prepare a new solution, we often use the
formula:

C1 x V1 = C2 x V2
where: C1: the concentration (e.g. molarity) of the initial solution
V1: the volume of the initial solution to be diluted
C2: the concentration (e.g. molarity) of the final solution
V2: the volume of the final solution

Provided that any three out of the four factors (C1, V1, C2, V2) are known, you can re-
arrange the formula to calculate the value of the fourth, unknown factor.