Question #47267

1 Answer
Jun 1, 2016

Here's what I got.

Explanation:

The key to this problem is the density of the solution.

The density of a substance essentially tells you the mass of one unit of volume of that substance. In your case, the density of the solution is said to be 2.52.5 grams per milliliter, which means that one unit of volume will be "1 mL"1 mL.

So, the density of the solution tells you that every "1 mL"1 mL of this solution has a mass of "2.5 g"2.5 g.

You can thus use density as a conversion factor to help you convert between the mass of the solution and the volume it occupies.

Now, the problem tries to put you off track a little by telling you that

1000 mL of an extremely viscous solution has a density of 2.52.5 grams/milliliter...

It doesn't matter how much of this solution you have, its density will always be the same.

This means that you can ignore the given "1000 mL"1000 mL altogether, that information is not important in this context.

A fluid ounce is approximately equal to

color(purple)(|bar(ul(color(white)(a/a)color(black)("1 fl oz " = " 29.57 mL")color(white)(a/a)|)))

Use this conversion factor to go from fluid ounces to milliliters

2 color(red)(cancel(color(black)("fl oz"))) * "29.57 mL"/(1color(red)(cancel(color(black)("fl oz")))) = "59.14 mL"

Now, if "1 mL" of this solution has a mass of "2.5 g", it follows that "59.14 mL" will have a mass of

59.14 color(red)(cancel(color(black)("mL"))) * overbrace("2.5 g"/(1color(red)(cancel(color(black)("mL")))))^(color(blue)("the density of the solution")) = "147.85 g"

You should round this off to one sig fig, the number of sig figs you have for the volume of the solution, i.e. 2 fluid ounces, but I'll leave it rounded to two sig figs

"mass of 2 fl oz" = color(green)(|bar(ul(color(white)(a/a)color(black)("150 g")color(white)(a/a)|)))

Finally, to convert this to ounces, use the conversion factor

color(purple)(|bar(ul(color(white)(a/a)color(black)("1 oz " = " 28.35 g")color(white)(a/a)|)))

You will have

150 color(red)(cancel(color(black)("g"))) * "1 oz"/(28.35color(red)(cancel(color(black)("g")))) = color(green)(|bar(ul(color(white)(a/a)color(black)("5.3 oz")color(white)(a/a)|)))