Answer to Question #25496 in Organic Chemistry for Tamara

Question

A student recovers 300 mg of trimyristin from her nutmeg sample. If this represents 20 % recovery, how much nutmeg did she start the experiment with assuming that trimyristin represents about 25% of the dried weight of ground nutmeg?

Answer 1

Mass of nutmeg in the begining is X
Mass in the end is 300 mg
Nutmeg includes 20% of trimyristin.

So,student didn't know that trimyristin is 20% of mass and she or he expected to obtain more trimyristin (like 25 %). But if the real mass is 300 mg, and it is uniquely 20%, the mass of nutmeg in the begining is 300 * 100/20 = 1500 mg