How to Calculate the Molarity of High Fructose Corn Syrup

High fructose corn syrup, a product of corn, can be measured by its molarity, or the molecular weight of its chemicals.

Molarity is a chemistry and physics concept that measures the amount of substances found in a soluble solution. Molarity measures a specific chemistry unit known as a mole, which is the weight of a molecule. To figure out the molarity of a substance you need two variables: the moles of the solution and the volume of solution. The volume of the solution should be a known variable based upon how much of the solution you have, however, moles need to be calculated from the known mass of the solution. This calculation can be given to any solution, including a thick liquid like high fructose corn syrup.

Things You'll Need

• High fructose corn syrup
• Container
• Weight scale

Instructions

1. Know the basic calculation of molarity. Molarity equals the moles of a solution divided by liters of the solution. M = moles/liters.

2. Purchase any number of containers of high fructose corn syrup and note the mass on each container. Measure the syrup in grams. Add up all your containers of syrup to find the total grams you will have for your experiment.

3. Determine the volume of high fructose corn syrup, in liters, by multiplying the number of containers by the number of liters in each container.

4. Pick an appropriate size container for the high fructose corn syrup.

5. Weigh the empty container. You need the weight of the container before it is filled with syrup to calculate the accurate weight of the high fructose corn syrup.

6. Pour the high fructose corn syrup into the container.

7. Weigh the container again. Subtract the weight of the empty container from the weight of the full container. The resulting number is the weight of the high fructose corn syrup.

8. Convert the mass into moles. You know the mass, in grams, and you now know the weight of the corn syrup. Multiply the mass by a fraction of the weight. So, hypothetically, if the mass of the corn syrup is 6 grams and the corn syrup weighs 25 grams, then the moles calculation should be moles = 6 multiplied by 1/25.

9. Divide the moles from the volume variable. The answer to this calculation will be the molarity of the high fructose corn syrup based upon the mass and volume you selected.

Tips & Warnings

• It is important to maintain the measurements for all your variables. Your volume variable must be in liters while the moles of a solution is calculated from the known grams of the solution. The molarity of a substance is represented by the letter M.

References

• Clackamas Community College: Calculations Using Molarity
• Clackamas Community College: Molarity
• Clackamas Community College: Mole-Gram Calculations
• MicrobiologyBytes: Molarities and Dilutions