A chemistry student mixes 250 mL of a 20% salt solution with 750 mL of a 5% salt solution. What is the concentration of the final mixture?
["Chemistry Student Solution Mixing: Calculating Final Salt Concentration", "When studying solutions in chemistry, understanding how to calculate concentrations after mixing solutions is a fundamental skill. In this practical example, a chemistry student combines two salt solutions: 250 mL of a 20% salt solution with 750 mL of a 5% salt solution. This article explains the step-by-step calculation to determine the final concentration of the mixture.", "---", "### Step 1: Understand the Given Data", "- Solution 1:\n - Volume = 250 mL\n - Salt concentration = 20% (or 0.20 in decimal)", "- Solution 2:\n - Volume = 750 mL\n - Salt concentration = 5% (or 0.05 in decimal)", "---", "### Step 2: Calculate the Amount of Salt in Each Solution", "Salt mass is found by multiplying volume and concentration:", "- Salt from Solution 1:\n ( 250\ \ ext{mL} \ imes 0.20 = 50\ \ ext{g} )", "- Salt from Solution 2:\n ( 750\ \ ext{mL} \ imes 0.05 = 37.5\ \ ext{g} )", "---", "### Step 3: Total Salt and Total Volume", "Add the salt masses and volumes:", "- Total salt = ( 50\ \ ext{g} + 37.5\ \ ext{g} = 87.5\ \ ext{g} )", "- Total volume = ( 250\ \ ext{mL} + 750\ \ ext{mL} = 1000\ \ ext{mL} )", "---", "### Step 4: Calculate Final Concentration", "Use the formula for concentration:", "[\n\ ext{Final concentration} = \frac{\ ext{Total salt}}{\ ext{Total volume}} = \frac{87.5\ \ ext{g}}{1000\ \ ext{mL}} = 0.0875\n]", "Convert to percentage:", "[\n0.0875 \ imes 100 = 8.75%\n]", "---", "### Conclusion", "The final mixture has a concentration of 8.75% salt. This calculation demonstrates an essential chemistry technique — combining solutions with known concentrations to determine the properties of a homogeneous mixture. Proper concentration calculations are vital in laboratory work, industrial processes, and many real-world applications involving aqueous solutions.", "---", "Keywords:\nchemistry concentration calculation, salt solution mixing, solution preparation, final salt concentration, chemistry student guide, dilution calculation, chemistry lab report, solution mixing problem, final concentration formula", "Meta description:\nLearn how to calculate the concentration of a final mixture when 250 mL of a 20% salt solution is combined with 750 mL of a 5% salt solution. Step-by-step chemistry problem solution."]
