The prevalence of improper solution-making technique places molar solutions in crisis

Abstract

Properly made solutions are critical to the scientific method. However, in various laboratories and collaborative environments, we have noticed a lack of proper technique for making solutions. Instead of measuring the moles of solute then filling up to the needed volume with solvent, we observed many individuals would measure the moles of solute then add a premeasured volume of solvent, resulting in more dilute solutions. This disturbing trend is particularly of interest for high-molarity solutions, such as sucrose solutions common in sensory science. The higher the molarity, the greater the skew from the incorrect technique. Therefore, we designed a survey investigating the prevalence of improper solution-making techniques. We had 811 participants of which 186 we determined likely to make solutions based on field of study and job description. The 186 participants were categorized by current position as faculty, postdoctoral fellow, research assistant, or graduate student. Our results indicate that almost a third of scientists may be making molar solutions incorrectly. Given the current crisis of reproducibility in science, and the importance of concentration in a variety of applications, the possibility of the concentrations being mismatched from one research group or even one lab member to another is concerning. We urge all researchers to document and seek/provide training for day-to-day work in research laboratories, ensuring all researchers can correctly perform even very basic procedures.