We have been given the condition that carbon makes up 35%
of the mass of the substance and the rest is made up of oxygen. With this, it
can be concluded that 65% of the substance is made up of oxygen. If we let x be
the mass of oxygen in the substance, the operation that would best represent
the scenario is,
<span> x = (0.65)(5.5 g)</span>
<span> <em> </em><span><em>x =
3.575 g</em></span></span>
This is a straightforward dilution calculation that can be done using the equation
where <em>M</em>₁ and <em>M</em>₂ are the initial and final (or undiluted and diluted) molar concentrations of the solution, respectively, and <em>V</em>₁ and <em>V</em>₂ are the initial and final (or undiluted and diluted) volumes of the solution, respectively.
Here, we have the initial concentration (<em>M</em>₁) and the initial (<em>V</em>₁) and final (<em>V</em>₂) volumes, and we want to find the final concentration (<em>M</em>₂), or the concentration of the solution after dilution. So, we can rearrange our equation to solve for <em>M</em>₂:

Substituting in our values, we get
![\[M_2=\frac{\left ( 50 \text{ mL} \right )\left ( 0.235 \text{ M} \right )}{\left ( 200.0 \text{ mL} \right )}= 0.05875 \text{ M}\].](https://tex.z-dn.net/?f=%5C%5BM_2%3D%5Cfrac%7B%5Cleft%20%28%2050%20%5Ctext%7B%20mL%7D%20%5Cright%20%29%5Cleft%20%28%200.235%20%5Ctext%7B%20M%7D%20%5Cright%20%29%7D%7B%5Cleft%20%28%20200.0%20%5Ctext%7B%20mL%7D%20%5Cright%20%29%7D%3D%200.05875%20%5Ctext%7B%20M%7D%5C%5D.)
So the concentration of the diluted solution is 0.05875 M. You can round that value if necessary according to the appropriate number of sig figs. Note that we don't have to convert our volumes from mL to L since their conversion factors would cancel out anyway; what's important is the ratio of the volumes, which would be the same whether they're presented in milliliters or liters.
The correct answer is A. Ammonia.