There are 8 liters of alcohol in a mixture of 24 liters of alcohol and water. How many liters of alcohol must be added to make a mixture that is 50% alcohol

Question

This is a mixture word problem...

Answer 1

Hello Seth,

 

So, what we're looking for here is a 1:1 ratio of alcohol to water.

 

Currently, there are 8 liters of alcohol in the mixture, meaning there are 16 liters of water (8+16=24). 

 

We know that for a 1:1 ratio, there have to be equal parts alcohol and water.  So, we must make the number of liters of alcohol equal to 16 by adding 8.