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The equivalent (symbol: eq ), sometimes termed the molar equivalent, is a unit of electrical charge used in chemistry and the biological sciences. It could be converted to Coulombs 'C' (SI unit) using Faraday's constant F in 'C/mol', where 1 'eq' = F 'C'.
The equivalent of substance A is the amount of substance A multiplied by its valence.
The equivalent could be also formally defined through the amount of substance which will either:
A historical definition, used especially for the chemical elements, describes an equivalent as the amount of a substance that will react with 1 g (0.035 oz) of hydrogen, or with 8 g (0.28 oz) of oxygen, or with 35.5 g (1.25 oz) of chlorine, or displaces any of the three.
In practice, the amount of a substance in equivalents often has a very small magnitude, so it is frequently described in terms of milliequivalents (meq or mEq), the prefix milli denoting that the measure has been multiplied by 1000. Very often, the measure is used in terms of milliequivalents of solute per litre of solvent (or milliNormal, where meq/l = mN). This is especially common for measurement of compounds in biological fluids; for instance, the healthy level of potassium in the blood of a human is defined between 3.5 and 5.0 meq/L.
A certain amount of univalent ions provides the same amount of equivalents while the same amount of divalent ions provides twice the amount of equivalents. For example, 1 mmol of Na+ is equal 1 meq, while 1 mmol of Ca++ is equal 2 meqs.