You have a 12 M solution of hydrochloric acid. How many milliliters of this solution will give 25.0 mL of 2.0 M hydrochloric acid when diluted?

Very confusing, If I can get a step by step process on how to figure this out, that would be great.

Just remember the definition of molarity.

molarity = # mols/liter of solution.
What do you want? 25 mL x 2.0 M = 0.025 L x 2.0 M = ??moles HCl.
12 M x ?liters = mols from above. Solve for liters. OR, you can do this all in one step.
12 M x mL = 25.0 mL x 2.0 M

.0042

the answer should be in ml so...4.16 ml~ 4.2 ml

To figure out how many milliliters of the 12 M hydrochloric acid solution you need to dilute to obtain 25.0 mL of a 2.0 M hydrochloric acid solution, follow these steps:

Step 1: Understand the concept:
When you dilute a solution, you are adding a solvent (usually water) to the original solution to decrease its concentration. The moles of solute (hydrochloric acid, in this case) remain the same before and after dilution.

Step 2: Use the dilution formula:
The dilution formula is expressed as: C1V1 = C2V2
Where:
- C1 is the initial concentration of the solution (12 M)
- V1 is the initial volume of the solution (unknown in this case)
- C2 is the final concentration of the solution (2.0 M)
- V2 is the final volume of the solution (25.0 mL)

Step 3: Plug in the known values:
Using the dilution formula, you can rearrange it to solve for the unknown variable V1:
V1 = (C2 * V2) / C1

Step 4: Substitute the values into the formula:
V1 = (2.0 M * 25.0 mL) / 12 M

Step 5: Perform the calculation:
V1 = 50.0 mL / 12 M

Step 5: Calculate the answer:
V1 = 4.17 mL (rounded to two decimal places)

Therefore, you would need to dilute approximately 4.17 mL of the 12 M hydrochloric acid solution to obtain 25.0 mL of a 2.0 M hydrochloric acid solution.