Final answer:
The molarity of a solution made by dissolving 72.3 g of silver nitrate in 961 mL of water is calculated by first determining the moles of silver nitrate and then using the volume of the solution to find the molarity, which is approximately 0.443 M. The closest answer choice is B) 0.5M.
Step-by-step explanation:
To calculate the molarity of a solution resulting from dissolving 72.3 g of silver nitrate (AgNO3) in enough water to give a final volume of 961 mL, we first need to find the number of moles of AgNO3. To do this, we divide the mass of the silver nitrate by its molar mass. The molar mass of AgNO3 is 169.87 g/mol. So, number of moles = 72.3 g / 169.87 g/mol = 0.4257 moles.
Next, we convert the volume of the solution to liters, as molarity is defined as moles per liter. The volume of the solution is 961 mL, which is 0.961 L.
Then we use the formula: Molarity (M) = Moles of solute / Liters of solution to find the molarity of the solution.
So, Molarity = 0.4257 moles / 0.961 L = approximately 0.443 M.
The closest answer to this result is option B) 0.5M, although the actual calculated molarity is slightly lower than 0.5M.