Question

The FDA recommends that women who are pregnant avoid eating more than three 6.00 oz servings of bluefish per month because of the relatively high mercury levels in that type of fish. If bluefish contains 0.309 ppm of mercury (that is, 0.309 oz of mercury per 1×106 oz of fish), how many ounces of mercury would a pregnant woman consume in a month if she ate the maximum recommended amount of bluefish?

Answer 1

5,562 x
`10^(-6)`

Explanation:

• Firts, we need to find the maximum recommended amount of bluefish per month. Since the FDA recommends 3 servings of 6.00 oz each, the maximum amount would be:

the maximum amount of bluefish per month =
`3 * 6.00 oz = 18.00 oz`

• Since bluefish contains 0.309 ppm of mercury per 1x
  `10^(6)` oz of fish, then:

0.309 oz mercury --------> 1x
`10^(6)` oz of fish

How many (
`y`) --------> 18.00 oz of fish

`y = (18.00 oz of fish * 0.309 oz of mercury)/(1 x 10^(6) oz of fish )  = 0.000005562 = 5.562 x 10^(-6)` oz mercury