Final answer:
The mass percent of sodium acetate in the solution is calculated to be 17.55% by combining the mass of dissolved sodium acetate with the mass of the ethanol solvent and expressing the sodium acetate's mass as a percentage of the total mixture.
Step-by-step explanation:
The mass percent of sodium acetate in a solution made by dissolving 48 g of solid sodium acetate in 245 ml of ethanol can be found by first determining the mass of ethanol. Since pure ethanol has a density of 0.92 g/ml, the mass of ethanol is 245 ml × 0.92 g/ml = 225.4 g.
Next, we combine the mass of the sodium acetate with the mass of the ethanol to get the total mass of the solution: 48 g + 225.4 g = 273.4 g. Finally, the mass percent is calculated as the ratio of the mass of sodium acetate to the total mass of the solution, multiplied by 100%.
The calculation is as follows: (48 g / 273.4 g) × 100% = 17.55%. Therefore, the mass percent of sodium acetate in the solution is 17.55%.