Question

You need precisely 1.25 grams of mercury for a lab experiment. If you have 0.76 gram of mercury in your test tube, how much more mercury do you need? Write an equation to solve for this unknown amount.

Short answer

Answer: 0.49 grams

Step-by-step solution

Define the variables

Let x be the amount of additional mercury needed.

Write down the equation

We know that the existing mercury (0.76 grams) plus the additional mercury (x grams) should equal 1.25 grams. So, we can write the equation as: 0.76 + x = 1.25

Solve the equation for x

In order to find the value of x, subtract 0.76 from both sides of the equation: x = 1.25 - 0.76 x = 0.49

Interpret the result

The value of x is 0.49, which means we need to add 0.49 grams of mercury to the test tube to have a total of 1.25 grams of mercury for the lab experiment.