How many gallons of 5% acid solution should be mixed with 20 galllons of a 10% acid solution to obtain an 8% acid solution

let the amount of the 5% solution that must be added be x gallons

.05x + .10(20) = .08(20+x)
times 100
5x + 10(20) = 8(20+x)
5x + 200 = 160 + 8x
-3x = -40
x = 40/3

they should add 13 1/3 gallons of the 5% solution.

To determine the number of gallons of 5% acid solution needed, we can use the following formula:

(amount of 5% solution * percentage of acid in the 5% solution) + (amount of 10% solution * percentage of acid in the 10% solution) = (total amount of mixture * desired percentage of acid)

Let's solve the equation step-by-step.

Let x be the number of gallons of the 5% acid solution.

(amount of 5% solution * 5%) + (20 gallons * 10%) = (x + 20 gallons) * 8%

(0.05x) + (2 gallons) = (0.08x + 1.6 gallons)

Now, we can simplify the equation:

0.05x + 2 = 0.08x + 1.6

Subtracting 0.05x from both sides, we get:

2 = 0.08x - 0.05x + 1.6

0.03x = 0.4

Dividing both sides by 0.03, we find:

x = 0.4 / 0.03

x ≈ 13.333

Therefore, we need approximately 13.333 gallons of the 5% acid solution to obtain an 8% acid solution when mixed with 20 gallons of a 10% acid solution.

To solve this problem, we can use the concept of the mixture equation. The mixture equation states that the amount of acid in a mixture is equal to the sum of the amounts of acid in the individual components.

Let's denote the unknown amount of 5% acid solution we need to mix with 'x' gallons.

The amount of acid in the 20 gallons of 10% solution is 20 * 0.10 = 2 gallons.

The amount of acid in the 'x' gallons of 5% solution is x * 0.05 = 0.05x gallons.

The total amount of acid in the mixture is the sum of the above two quantities:

2 + 0.05x

According to the problem, we want the resulting mixture to be an 8% acid solution. So, the total amount of acid in the mixture should be 8% of the total volume of the mixture.

We have a total volume of 20 + x gallons. Therefore, the amount of acid in the mixture is (20 + x) * 0.08 = 1.6 + 0.08x gallons.

Now, we can set up an equation:

2 + 0.05x = 1.6 + 0.08x

To solve for 'x', we can subtract 0.05x from both sides:

2 - 1.6 = 0.08x - 0.05x

0.4 = 0.03x

Divide both sides by 0.03 to solve for 'x':

0.4 / 0.03 = x

x ≈ 13.33

Therefore, we need to mix approximately 13.33 gallons of 5% acid solution with 20 gallons of 10% acid solution to obtain an 8% acid solution.