SOLUTION: A yearlong study was done on the gases released by a power plant. A scientist measured the amount of two important gases. He found that there was 21 times as much sulfur dioxide re
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Question 1117103: A yearlong study was done on the gases released by a power plant. A scientist measured the amount of two important gases. He found that there was 21 times as much sulfur dioxide released as nitrogen dioxide. At the end of the year, the total weight of the two gases was calculated. There were 10,000 more tons of sulfur dioxide than nitrogen dioxide. How many tons of nitrogen dioxide were released during the study? Answer by ikleyn(52781) (Show Source):
What the condition says, can be expressed by this system of 2 equations
x = 21y (1)
x - y = 10000 tons (2)
where x = sulfur dioxide amount released (in tons), and y = that of nitrogen dioxide.
Substituting (1) into (2), you get
21y - y = 10000 ====> 20y = 10000 ====> y = = 500.
Answer. 500 tons of nitrogen dioxide were released during the study.
