Question

For volatile matter determination, a 1.05 g coal sample (containing 12% moisture) is heated in a furnace. After heating, the mass of the residue is found to be 0.55 g. Calculate the % volatile matter in coal if:

(a) 36.19%
(b) 46.15%
(c) 53.85%
(d) 63.81%

Answer 1

To find the % volatile matter in coal, subtract the residue mass from the mass of dry coal to get the volatile matter. Then divide it by the dry coal mass and multiply by 100%. The result gives 40.48%, which does not match the provided options, indicating an issue with the question or options.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the % volatile matter in the coal, we first consider the initial mass of the coal sample, which is 1.05 g, along with the given moisture content of 12%. The mass of the residue after heating, which signifies the non-volatile matter, is 0.55 g. To find the mass of the volatile matter, we subtract the mass of non-volatile matter from the initial mass of the dry coal (which is the total mass minus the moisture).

The dry coal mass is calculated by reducing the coal sample by its moisture content:

(1 - 0.12) × 1.05 g = 0.924 g

Now, subtract the mass of the residue from the dry mass to find the volatile matter:

0.924 g - 0.55 g = 0.374 g volatile matter

To express this as a percentage of the original dry coal mass:

(0.374 g / 0.924 g) × 100% = 40.48%

This percentage does not exactly match any of the options provided, which suggests there might be an error in the question or the available options.