DILUTIONS

It is often necessary to make dilutions of specimens being ana- lyzed or to make

weaker solutions from stronger solutions in various laboratory procedures.
Clinicians must be able to work with various dilution problems and dilution
factors. They often need to determine the concentration of antibody in each solu-
tion, the actual amount of material in each solution, and the total volume of each
solution. All dilutions are a form of ratio. Dilution is an indication of relative
concentration.
Diluting Specimens
In most laboratory determinations, a small sample is taken for analysis and the
final result is expressed as concentration per some convenient standard volume. In
a certain procedure, 0.5 mL of blood is diluted to a total of 10 mL with various re