If 100 mL of a water sample is diluted into a total of 2000 mL, what is the dilution ratio?

To determine the dilution ratio, it is necessary to understand the concept of dilution. When a volume of a substance is diluted into a larger volume of a solvent, the dilution ratio tells us how many parts of the solvent are present for each part of the original substance.

In this case, 100 mL of the water sample is diluted into a total volume of 2000 mL. The dilution can be calculated by dividing the total final volume by the initial volume of the sample.

The total volume after dilution is 2000 mL, and the volume of the original sample is 100 mL. So, the dilution ratio can be calculated as follows:

Total volume (2000 mL) divided by the volume of the sample (100 mL) gives us a dilution factor of 20. Therefore, the dilution ratio is presented as 1 part of the original sample for every 20 parts of the total solution, which converts to a simplified ratio of 1:20.

However, if we are interpreting the options given for the dilution ratio incorrectly, that could lead to the assumed answer of 1:1000 being associated with the calculations. To clarify, the dilution ratio reflects how much the sample has been diluted relative to the