Symbols for Molarity

[Mallika Singh 1G]

This is a silly/obvious question, but when referring to molarity, or concentration in general, the book uses "c" or "M" interchangeably right? (just wanted to be sure that there's no difference in meaning for the two symbols. thank you!)

[Ariana Iranmahboub1G]

I believe so because in those instances I assume c represents concentration.

[Ronak Naik]

Yes, they are similar. M and c both refer to the number of moles of solute divided by the total volume in Liters.

[Jessica Chen 2C]

Actually, I think the book uses c to represent molarity and M to represent molar mass in equations. I was a bit confused by this too, since M is the symbol for units in molarity (ie .5 M). So in the equation m=cMV, it's basically mass=molarity x molar mass x volume.

[105099972]

The symbol M and molarity relates to concentration right? And is there a similar symbol for molar mass?

[Naomi 3G]

Actually, I think the book uses c to represent molarity and M to represent molar mass in equations. I was a bit confused by this too, since M is the symbol for units in molarity (ie .5 M). So in the equation m=cMV, it's basically mass=molarity x molar mass x volume.

Ya, I agree, in the book M in equations is used for mass per mole and a smaller, capital M following a numerical value represents molarity

[Jillian C 4C]

Yes, c and M can be used interchangeably because c refers to concentration and M refers to molarity.

[Matthew Tsai 2H]

Yes, as previous answers mentioned, they refer to the same thing. I believe "c" is used in general reference to some concentration while "M" is a more specific reference to molarity, which is a specific measure defined as mol/L.

[lasarro]

I would practice with just a symbol and be consistent with it. A lot of the workshops that I went to used problems that only use M as the symbol for molarity, so you may want to use that on your test.