How Do You Calculate the Fraction of Ethylene in a Copolymer?

[][nstigator]

Heres a question I am stuck with

Crosslinked polymers consisting of 62 wt% ethylene and 38 wt% propylene may have elastic properties similar those for natural rubber. For a copolymer of this composition, determine the fraction of the ethylene mer.

Express your answer with three decimal points.


I honestly am lost with how to do this question...

What I did was...

Found the weight of ethylene (28.052) and the weight of propylene (42.078)...then multipled by the percentages and got...

28.052*0.62 = 17.39
42.078*0.38 = 15.98

then..

fraction = 17.39/(15.98+17.39)

I doubt this is right...any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

 

[][nstigator]

Sorry I think I posted this in the wrong section.

My apologies

 

[Blueshift5]

I understand your confusion with this question. It can be tricky to determine the fraction of a specific component in a mixture based on weight percentages. However, your approach is correct. You have correctly calculated the weight of ethylene and propylene in the mixture and then divided the weight of ethylene by the total weight of the two components. This will give you the fraction of ethylene mer in the copolymer.

To express your answer with three decimal points, you can simply round your answer to the third decimal place. In this case, your final answer would be 0.521.

I hope this helps clarify the question for you. Keep up the good work in your studies of materials and chemistry!