Making a 50% solution from Liquid Citric Acid

[Robert Brott]

I have a bottle of !00% liquid Citric Acid with the label showing Citric Acid and Water as contents. I need a 50% solution of the acid. Do I dilute this with water 50-50?

 

[Bystander]

!00% liquid Citric Acid with the label showing Citric Acid and (?) Water

Little tough to conceive of a 2 component mixture with one component being 100%; check the label a little more closely. Is it liquid? If so, it is definitely not 100%.

"50:50?" By volume? By mass? Mole fraction? Usually, percentages indicate mass. If you're playing with citric acid, you're in an area where a lot of the exceptions to the "usual" rule occur, often without rhyme or reason. Check your procedure that requires "50%" for details.

 

[Borek]

100% citric acid is solid. It is well soluble, 148 g per 100 g of water at 20°C, such solution would be around 66% w/w. I doubt the one you have is that concentrated, as it would not survive cooling without the acid crashing out from the solution (and below 20°C is quite normal in many places).