Dilution Calculator — C1V1 = C2V2 & Ratio (1:N)

Real-world use cases

• Dilute concentrated cleaner to the label strength

  A floor cleaner concentrate is meant to be used at 1:32 but you bought it as a 100% concentrate and want a 1 gallon (3785 mL) spray bottle. Use ratio mode with 1:32, total 1 gal, parts basis. The tool returns about 115 mL concentrate and 3670 mL water. Switching to a stronger 1:16 mix for grease nearly doubles the concentrate to about 222 mL — read the split rather than eyeballing a glug, and the bottle lasts as long as the label promises.

• Mix a pesticide or herbicide to a safe rate

  A garden herbicide label says 5% solution for spot treatment and your concentrate is 41% glyphosate. In C1V1 mode enter C1 = 41, C2 = 5, V2 = 1000 mL. You get roughly 122 mL concentrate plus 878 mL water. Mixing weaker than the label wastes a pass; mixing stronger risks plant burn and runoff, so the exact volume matters. The dilution-factor readout (about 8x here) is an easy sanity check against the product sheet.

• Make a hydroponic nutrient solution to a target ppm

  Your reservoir target is 800 ppm and the stock nutrient tests at 40000 ppm (a 4% solution). In C1V1 mode enter C1 = 40000, C2 = 800, V2 = 20000 mL for a 20 L reservoir. The tool returns 400 mL nutrient stock and 19600 mL water. Because concentration units cancel, you can work entirely in ppm here and cross-check the dilution factor (50x) against your EC meter expectations before dosing the tank.

• Prepare a lab working solution from a stock

  You have a 10 mol/L NaOH stock and need 250 mL of 0.5 mol/L working solution. C1V1 mode with C1 = 10, C2 = 0.5, V2 = 250 mL gives 12.5 mL stock into 237.5 mL water. The same equation drives every serial dilution in a teaching lab; entering it here and copying the recipe means the bench sheet matches what you actually pipetted, with the 20x factor shown so a tenfold slip is obvious.

• Batch a cocktail syrup or bitters dilution

  Bartenders cut overproof spirits and dilute house bitters by ratio. To proof a 1:4 bitters dilution for a 500 mL dropper batch, ratio mode with 1:4, total 500 mL, parts basis returns 100 mL bitters and 400 mL water. For a 2:1 simple syrup by volume you would split a total instead — the point is the same: a repeatable, written split so the next batch tastes like the last one, not a guess.

Common pitfalls

• Confusing 1:10 'parts' with 1:10 'total'. Parts means 1 + 10 = 11 total (11-fold), total means the concentrate is 1 of 10 (10-fold). At a 1:10 ratio that is 100 mL vs 110 mL of concentrate in a 1100 mL batch — small here, but it compounds at strong ratios and across a whole season of spraying. Pick the basis that matches your product label.

• Entering C1 and C2 in different units. The whole equation relies on C2/C1 being a pure ratio, so C1 in percent and C2 in ppm gives an answer that is off by a factor of 10000. Keep both in the same unit; convert first if you must (1% = 10000 ppm).

• Flipping C1 and C2. Putting the target where the stock goes asks the tool to concentrate by adding water, which is impossible — that is why a C2 > C1 entry is blocked. If you see the 'target exceeds stock' message, swap the two numbers.

• Assuming volumes are perfectly additive for strong mixes. For dilute cleaners and nutrients the additive assumption is fine, but concentrated acids and alcohol contract when mixed with water, so a calculated 1000 mL may settle below 1000 mL. Weigh by mass for those.

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