1000 g of 55%(mass percentage) nitric acid solution is to be diluted to 20%(mass percentage) nitric acid solution. How many liters of water should be added to the starting solution?

1000 g that is 55% by mass means you have 550 g HNO3 in the 1000 g.

So 550 g add to X water = 20%?
550/X)*100 = 20
Solve for X = 550/0.2 = 2750 g

The correct way to do it is to start with 1000 g of the 55% stuff and add water until the mass is 2750 g.

To solve this problem, we need to calculate the mass of nitric acid in the starting solution and determine how much water should be added.

Step 1: Calculate the mass of nitric acid in the starting solution:
Mass of nitric acid = (mass percentage/100) x total mass
Mass of nitric acid = (55/100) x 1000 g
Mass of nitric acid = 550 g

Step 2: Determine the mass of nitric acid in the final solution:
We want the final solution to be 20% nitric acid. Therefore, the mass of nitric acid in the final solution can be calculated as:
Mass of nitric acid in final solution = (mass percentage/100) x (total mass + mass of water)
550 g = (20/100) x (1000 g + mass of water)
550 g = (20/100) x (1000 g + mass of water)

Step 3: Solve for the mass of water:
550 g = (20/100) x (1000 g + mass of water)
550 g = (1/5) x (1000 g + mass of water)
Multiplying both sides by 5:
2750 g = 1000 g + mass of water
mass of water = 2750 g - 1000 g
mass of water = 1750 g

Step 4: Convert the mass of water to liters:
Density of water = 1 g/mL
1 mL = 1 g
Therefore, 1750 g of water is equal to 1750 mL.

To convert mL to liters, divide by 1000:
1750 mL ÷ 1000 = 1.75 L

Therefore, 1.75 liters of water should be added to the starting solution.

To solve this problem, we need to determine the amount of water that should be added to the 1000 g of 55% nitric acid solution to obtain a 20% nitric acid solution.

Step 1: Determine the mass of nitric acid in the starting solution:
The starting solution is 55% nitric acid solution, which means that 55% of the 1000 g is nitric acid. To find the mass of nitric acid, we can multiply 1000 g by 0.55:
Mass of nitric acid = 1000 g × 0.55 = 550 g

Step 2: Determine the mass of water in the starting solution:
Since we are adding water to dilute the solution, the total mass of the solution remains constant. Therefore, the mass of water can be calculated by subtracting the mass of nitric acid from the mass of the starting solution:
Mass of water = 1000 g - 550 g = 450 g

Step 3: Determine the concentration of nitric acid in the final solution:
In the final solution, we want the nitric acid concentration to be 20%. This means that it should account for 20% of the total mass of the solution. Since we will be adding water, the total mass of the solution will increase. Therefore, we can set up the following equation to solve for the mass of the final solution:
Mass of nitric acid = (20/100) × (Mass of final solution)

From Step 1, we know that the mass of nitric acid is 550 g. Substituting this value into the equation above, we get:
550 g = (20/100) × (Mass of final solution)

We can solve this equation for the mass of the final solution:
Mass of final solution = (550 g) / (20/100) = 2750 g

Step 4: Determine the amount of water to be added:
The mass of the final solution is the sum of the masses of nitric acid and water. Therefore, we can calculate the mass of water added by subtracting the mass of nitric acid from the mass of the final solution:
Mass of water added = Mass of final solution - Mass of nitric acid
Mass of water added = 2750 g - 550 g = 2200 g

Step 5: Convert the mass of water added to liters:
Density of water = 1 g/mL
To convert grams to liters, we can assume that 1 mL is equivalent to 1 g (since the density of water is close to 1 g/mL):
Volume of water added = Mass of water added = 2200 g

Therefore, 2200 mL or 2.2 L of water should be added to the starting solution in order to obtain a 20% nitric acid solution.