A chemist is conducting an experiment which involves a certain chemical reaction. He begins the experiment with 866 milliliters of the chemical, which is consumed by the reaction at a varying rate that is no more than 12 milliliters per minute. Partway through the experiment, the chemist measures the amount of chemical remaining. If there are 746 milliliters of the chemical left, what is the smallest number of minutes that could have passed?
12 minutes
10 minutes
120 minutes
9 minutes
@SolomonZelman

Question

A chemist is conducting an experiment which involves a certain chemical reaction. He begins the experiment with 866 milliliters of the chemical, which is consumed by the reaction at a varying rate that is no more than 12 milliliters per minute. Partway through the experiment, the chemist measures the amount of chemical remaining. If there are 746 milliliters of the chemical left, what is the smallest number of minutes that could have passed?
12 minutes
10 minutes
120 minutes
9 minutes
@SolomonZelman

swaqqout_kid1 · Answer

@BunnyBree

anonymous · Answer

You can set up a linear equation to solve for the minutes passed

jhannybean · Answer

My first guess would be to make a ratio of the information given. $$\sf \frac{866 ~\text{mL of chemical}}{12 ~\text{mL/min}}=\frac{746~\text{mL of chemical}}{x ~ \text{mins}}$$

jhannybean · Answer

Oop, i meant to write $\sf x ~\frac{mL}{\text{mins}}$

anonymous · Answer

$$866mm - \frac{  12mm}{ 1 minute } \times x minutes = 746mm$$

swaqqout_kid1 · Answer

?

anonymous · Answer

whoops mm...is suppose to be mL

jhannybean · Answer

xD

anonymous · Answer

haha long day sorry but both methods above work and @Jhannybean gives a better amount of significant figures.

anonymous · Answer

Solve for X in both cases