practitioners of homeopathic medicine believe that good health can be restored b

Question

practitioners of homeopathic medicine believe that good health can be restored by administering a small amount of a harmful substance that stimulates the body's natural healing processes. the remedy is typically prepared by serially diluting an animal or plant extract. In a so-called 30X dilution, the active substance is diluted 10-fold, 30 times in succession.

a. if the substance is initially present at a concentration of 1 M, what is its concentration after a 30X dilution?

b. a typical homeopathic dose is a few drops. how many molecules of the active substance would be present in 1 mL?

c. when consulted with the results of an exercise such as the one in part b, proponents of homeopathy claim that a molecule can leave an imprint, or memory of itself, on the surrounding water molecules. what information presented in this chapter might be used to support this claim? to refute it?

Explanation / Answer

10-fold,30 times dilution means a dilution like this.

1M --> 1*10^-1----> 1*10^-2----->1*10^-3---->........so one.

after dilution the solution 30 times, concentration would be 1*10^-30 M

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1*10^-30 M = 1*10^-30 mol/1000mL

mol of active ingredient in 1mL = 1*10^-30 M/1000 = 1*10^-33 mol

Number of molecule in 1 mol = 6.023 *10^23

Number of molecules in 1*10^-33 mol = 1*10^-33 mol * 6.023 *10^23 = 6.023 *10^-10 molecules. (less than one )

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active ingredient can enetr into a H-bonding with the water molecules surrounding it leaving a perticular arrangement of water molecule arround itself.

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