Question

A laboratory technician needs to make a 36-liter batch of a 40% acid solution. How can the laboratory technician combine a batch of an acid solution that is pure acid with another that is 10% to get the desired concentration?

How many liters of pure acid solution?

How many liters of the 10% acid solution?

Answer 1

Answer: The values of x and y are x = 12 and y = 24.

Explanation:

Let x liter pure acid and y liter 10% acidic solution.

`x + y = 36` ------------------(1)

`x + 0.10y = 0.40* 36=14.4` -----------------(2)

solve for x and y

From eq(1), we get that

`x=36-y`

Put in eq(2), we get

`36-y+0.10y=14.4\\\\-0.9y=14.4-36\\\\-0.9y=-21.6\\\\y=(21.6)/(0.9)\\\\y=24`

x=36-24=12

Hence, the values of x and y are x = 12 and y = 24.