What is the mass of silicon in the second piece of an alloy if the total mass is 50.0 grams and the first piece is 30.0% silicon?

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Multiple Choice

What is the mass of silicon in the second piece of an alloy if the total mass is 50.0 grams and the first piece is 30.0% silicon?

Explanation:
The mass of silicon in a piece comes from multiplying that piece’s mass by the fraction of silicon in that piece. If you know how much the second piece weighs and what percentage of that piece is silicon, you can find the silicon mass directly. If you only know the total mass and the first piece’s silicon percentage, you can relate the amounts by saying silicon in the first piece is 0.30 times the first piece’s mass, and silicon in the second piece plus silicon in the first piece equals the total silicon in the alloy. But the total silicon in the alloy depends on the overall composition or on the second piece’s mass or its silicon percentage, which aren’t provided. So with the given data, you can’t determine a unique value for the silicon mass in the second piece. More information is needed to compute it.

The mass of silicon in a piece comes from multiplying that piece’s mass by the fraction of silicon in that piece. If you know how much the second piece weighs and what percentage of that piece is silicon, you can find the silicon mass directly. If you only know the total mass and the first piece’s silicon percentage, you can relate the amounts by saying silicon in the first piece is 0.30 times the first piece’s mass, and silicon in the second piece plus silicon in the first piece equals the total silicon in the alloy. But the total silicon in the alloy depends on the overall composition or on the second piece’s mass or its silicon percentage, which aren’t provided. So with the given data, you can’t determine a unique value for the silicon mass in the second piece. More information is needed to compute it.

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