[david222hughes]

Hey all,

Im not too hot with the Chemistry or Math and have a problem I need help with.

There are 4 different chemical compounds in a 450g powdered mixture:

Sodium Bicarbonate, Potassium Bicarbonate, Magnesium Chloride, Calcium Carbonate

I know the quantity of the following elements contained in this mixture per 5g serving:

Ca (32mg), Mg (20 mg), Na (620 mg) and K (814 mg)

What I want to figure out is how much Sodium Bicarbonate, Potassium Bicarbonate, Magnesium Chloride and Calcium Carbonate have been individually used in the total 450g mixture to arrive at these numbers per 5g serving, and then how much would I need of each to make a 1000g mixture.

I have made a start with the calculations....

My understanding based on some internet searching is that I need to know the 'Molar Mass' of each compound first, and then the 'Atomic Weight' of each element.

So for Sodium bicarbonate I have Mol Mass = 84.0066g;
and the Atomic Weight is 22.99

To find out how much Sodium is in 1g, i'm dividing 22.99 by 84.0066 and multiplying the answer by 1 which equals 0.274g/g, or 274mgs per 1000mgs.

The amount of Sodium in the 5g mixture is 620mgs which by my calculations equals 2.26g (2260mgs) of Sodium bicarbonate per 5g, multiplied by 200 (to get the 1000g amount) = 452g of Sodium bicarbonate per 1000g. Am I close?

I did the Magnesium Chloride hexahydrate calculation too.
Molar mass: 203.31
Atomic weight of Magnesium: 24.305

Then, 24.305 divided by 203.31 multiplied by 1 = 0.12g/g, or 120mgs per 1000mgs. The amount of Magnesium in the 5g mixture is 20mgs which works out to be around 0.17g (170mgs) of Magnesium chloride per 5g, times 200 = 34g per 1000g.

If those two are correct I can work out the other two remaining compounds myself obviously. Just need someone to check the Math and steer me in the right direction.

Thanks.

[AWK]

Sodium Bicarbonate, Potassium Bicarbonate, Magnesium Chloride, Calcium Carbonate

I did the Magnesium Chloride hexahydrate calculation too.

Check that all compounds have a total weight of 5 g.

[david222hughes]

The total weight of the 4 elements is 1486mgs in 5000mgs. There is no filler in the mixture so the 4 compounds total 5000mgs.

My understanding is that the missing weight, 3514mgs, is accounted for by the 'bicarbonate', 'carbonate' and 'chloride' portions of the individual compounds.

[AWK]

Check masses of salts.

[billnotgatez]

For
Ca (32mg), Mg (20 mg), Na (620 mg) and K (814 mg)
I get a total of
4.5 to 4.6 grams for the total of the compounds
I guess I am doing something wrong
or there is a typo in the amount of elements wanted

[Borek]

Sodium Bicarbonate, Potassium Bicarbonate, Magnesium Chloride, Calcium Carbonate

I know the quantity of the following elements contained in this mixture per 5g serving:

Ca (32mg), Mg (20 mg), Na (620 mg) and K (814 mg)

Trick is, it doesn't easily add up.

That is, when you calculate sum of masses of dry salts containing these masses of elements you will get 4.5 g, like billnotgatez wrote. That most likely means the mixture is wet and/or contains some other substances.

[AWK]

For
Ca (32mg), Mg (20 mg), Na (620 mg) and K (814 mg)
I get a total of
4.5 to 4.6 grams for the total of the compounds
I guess I am doing something wrong
or there is a typo in the amount of elements wanted

For anhydrous MgCl₂ and for hexahydrate, respectively - some error in data exists.

That's why I recommended checking the weight of the salt. In addition, these data are needed for further calculations.
MgCl2 is not so hygroscopic that it can be responsible for a weight gain of 0.5 g.

[david222hughes]

Thanks for the replies.

I checked the product package again and can confirm the quantities as being:

Serving size: 1 scoop (5g)
Amount Per Serving: Calcium 32mg, Magnesium 20mg, Sodium 620mg, Potassium 814mg
Ingredients: Proprietary Blend (Sodium Bicarbonate, Potassium Bicarbonate, Magnesium Chloride, Calcium Carbonate).


To further add to my confusion I found another company in Europe selling the same product under a different brand and they have only listed the values of Potassium and Magnesium per 18g.

Ingredients:

sodium bicarbonate
potassium bicarbonate
calcium carbonate
magnesium carbonate

Per 18g

Potassium

3,285 mg

Magnesium

88.13 mg

[AWK]

This means that this product contains other substances that are not listed, e.g. anti-caking agents.
In 1 kg of the mixture there will be 100 g of these additives.

[david222hughes]

Apparently not - I contacted both suppliers and both informed me that no fillers are used in the product - only the 4 listed ingredients.

[AWK]

Suppliers don't seem to want to reveal the recipe details.
In addition, this probably applies to dietary supplements, and according to the regulations of the Forum, we should not help in reconstructing recipes.

[david222hughes]

Fair enough.
 
Forgetting about the formulation and just focusing on one of the salts, Sodium 620mgs per 5g, is the method that I am using to calculate the amount of Sodium Bicarbonate per 5g correct?

Sodium bicarbonate Mol Mass = 84.0066g;
Atomic Weight = 22.99

To find out how much Sodium is in 1g, i'm dividing 22.99 by 84.0066 and multiplying the answer by 1 which equals 0.274g/g, or 274mgs per 1000mgs.

The amount of Sodium in the 5g mixture is 620mgs which by my calculations is 2.26g (2.26 * 274 = 620) of Sodium bicarbonate per 5g. Is this correct?

[AWK]

NaHCO3*620/Na = 2265 mg - correct.

[billnotgatez]

@david222hughes
Can you do this for the other compounds and see if it adds to 5 grams

[david222hughes]

@billnotgatez

The totals fall short of 5g.

NaHCO3 = 2.266g

KHCO3 = 2.084g

MgCl2 = 0.167g

CaCO3 = 0.08g

Total: 4.597g

As the serving size is is denoted by "1 scoop" (5g), perhaps the calculations provided by the manufacturer are based on precisely that - 1 scoop - which happened to weigh 4.6g which was then rounded up to 5g.