SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY

School of Engineering and Architecture

Department of Chemical Engineering

MOCK BOARDS | DAY 1

Chemical and Physical Principles

Instruction. Show complete solution to the following.

You are given until May 15 to submit your work. Failure to do so, you can still submit however you will incur No
Grade for a while until you submit your work. Good Luck and God Bless!!!

1. Histidine, an essential α-amino acid present in our body can transform into histamine under
enzymatic activity of histidine decarboxylase. When the reaction velocity is 2.6 mM/s, 1.67
mM of histamine is formed. Assuming 15 mM of the decarboxylase (K cat = 30 s-1) is used,
determine the Michaelis-Menten constant KM.
a. 0.19 M b. 0.29 M c. 0.39 M d. 0.49 M
2. A fermentation system has a k La of 3/s and a C*O of 5 ppm of O2. If the bulk liquid is
completely depleted with oxygen then the oxygen transfer rate will equal:
a. 0 b. 5 c. 10 d. 15
3. An enzyme has a Km of 4.7 x 10-5M. If the Vmax of the preparation is 22m moles liter-1 min-1,
what velocity would be observed in the presence of 2.0 x 10-4M substrate and 5.0 x 10-5M of
a competitive inhibitor?
a. 13.54 μ moles /L- b. 6.68 μ moles /L- c. 7.57 μ moles /L- d. 17.8 μ moles /L-
min min min min
4. Calculate the temperature at which the diffusion coefficient for the diffusion of Cu in Ni has
a value of 6.5 x 10-17 m2/s. Use Do = 2.7 x 10-5 m2/s.
a. 910 oC b. 879 oC c. 821 oC d. 788 oC
5. An enzyme is assayed at an initial substrate concentration of 2 x 10 -5M. In 6 minute, half of
the substrate is used. The Km for the substrate is 2 x 10-3M. The value of k in minute is
a. 6.693 b. 0.412 c. 0.115 d. 0.093
6. An Oswald viscometer was calibrated using water at 25 C (=8.9 x 10 Pa-s and density =
0 -4

1 x 103 kg/m3). The same viscometer was used at -1930C to determine the viscosity (in Pa-
s) of liquid air (density = 0.92 x 103 kg/m3). Assuming that the time ratio of water to liquid
air is 0.193 and neglecting volume changes, find the abovementioned quantity.
a. 4.30 x 10-3 b. 2.15 x 10-3 c. 1.6 x 10-3 d. 2.19 x 10-3
7. In an experiment to determine the specific heat of copper, a piece of copper weighing 50 g
is heated to 1000C in steam, then immersed into water at 270C. The water in the calorimeter
weighs 100 g and the inner aluminum cap weighs 50 g. If the final temperature is 300C,
what is the specific heat of copper in cal/g-0C, specific heat of aluminum is 0.22 cal/g-0C?
a. 0.871 b. 0.070 c. 0.095 d. 0.667
8. Charcoal samples taken from holes dug at Stonehenge have a carbon-14 specific activity of
9.50 dpm per gram carbon. Living wood has a specific activity of 15.3 dpm per gram of
carbon. Given the half-life of carbon 14 is 5730 years. How long ago (in years) was the
wood part of a living plant?
a. 3550 b. 3940 c. 5700 d. 9230
9. The concentration of yeast t-RNA in an aqueous solution is 12 μg/mL. The absorbance is
found to be 0.209 when this solution is placed in a 1.00 cm cuvette and 258 nm radiation is
passed through it. What will be the absorbance if the solution is diluted to 5 μg/mL?
 SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY
School of Engineering and Architecture
Department of Chemical Engineering

a. 0.017 b. 1.045 c. 0.0258 d. 0.087

10. The sanitary and industrial waste from a community consists of domestic wastewater from
several population of 10,000 persons; meat processing waste of 180 m 3/day containing 1500
mg/L of 5-day BOD; plastic industry wastewater flow of 515m 3/day with a 5-day BOD
concentration of 950 ppm and cooking oil wastewater flow of 350 m 3/day with a 5-day BOD
concentration of 450 ppm. What is the 5-day BOD concentration of the combined wastewater
in mg/L?
a. 2900 b. 1500 c. 1345 d. 877
11. A 5 amp current is passing for 3 hours and 30 minutes through this electrolytic cell in which
iron metal is deposited on the cathode. If the efficiency of the process is 68%, how many
grams of iron are deposited?
a. 12.19 b. 11.92 c. 8.62 d. 8.26
12. A 2L sample of mineral water was titrated with EDTA to determine its hardness in terms of
ppm CaCO3. The EDTA solution was titrated using 247 mg of primary standard CaCO3
requiring 27.8 mL for titration to the calmagite endpoint. A 50 mL aliquot was titrated with
34.7 mL EDTA. Determine the hardness of the sample.
a. 3614 b. 4382 c. 5973 d. 6101
13. A sample of milk weighing 5.00 g is analyzed for protein by the Kjeldahl method. The digested
material is treated with excess NaOH and the liberated NH 3 is caught in 25.0 mL H2SO4. The
excess acid then requires 28.2 mL of NaOH (25.8 mL acid  31.0 mL NaOH). The NaOH used
was standardized using 1.00 g sample of pure NH4Cl as a primary standard and the liberated
NH3 is caught in 25.0 mL of the above H2SO4. The excess acid requires 11.3 mL of the above
standard NaOH. Calculate the percentage of protein in the milk.
a. 2.05% b. 3.30% c. 4.60% d. 5.89%
14. At a certain temperature, 2.00-L sample of O2 was collected over water at a total pressure
of 785 torr. When the O2 was dried, the gas had a volume of 1.94 L at 785 torr while
temperature was kept constant. Calculate the vapor pressure of water at this temperature.
a. 20 torr b. 22 torr c. 24 torr d. 26 torr
15. The single largest use of phosphoric acid is in the production of fertilizer. How many grams
of phosphoric acid (with excess NH3) are required to produce 800 g of (NH 4)2HPO4, a common
fertilizer?
a. 1186 g b. 686 g c. 593 g d. 391 g
16. One commercial method used to peel potatoes is to soak them in a NaOH solution for a short
time, then remove them and spray off the peel. The NaOH concentration is normally 3 to 6
M, and the solution must be analyzed periodically. In one such analysis, 45.7 mL of 0.500 M
H2SO4 is required to neutralize 20.0 mL of NaOH solution. What is the concentration of the
NaOH solution?
a. 2.28 M b. 2.98 M c. 3.12 M d. 3.89 M
17. Determine the sludge volume index when MLSS is 3500 ppm and the Imhoff cone reads 800
mL/L.
a. 0.23 mL/g b. 4375 mL/g c. 228.5 mL/g d. 438 mL/g
18. Calculate the BOD of a wastewater sample if 10 mL sample are mixed with dilution water
containing 9.50 mg/L of DO. The DO content of the mixture is 6.7 mg/L after a 5-day
incubation at 20oC. Assume that the initial DO of wastewater sample is zero.
a. 101.54 mg/L b. 90.4 mg/L c. 82.67 mg/L d. 74.50 mg/L
 SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY
School of Engineering and Architecture
Department of Chemical Engineering

19. The 5-day BOD at 20oC of a wastewater from a beverage plant is 200 mg/L. What is the
expected 12-day demand?
a. 200 mg/L b. 230 mg/L c. 280 mg/L d. 355 mg/L
20. Brackish water is being desalinated for irrigation purposes by evaporation. If the fed water
has 600 ppm of salt, and it is permissible to have 50 ppm of salt in the irrigation water, what
fraction of water can by-pass the evaporator?
a. 0.0666 b. 0.0833 c. 0.1460 d. 0.3691
21. If a 2 kg of liquid water at 363K are mixed adiabatically and at constant pressure with 3 kg
of liquid water at 283K, the final temperature of the mixture will be
a. 315 K b. 283 K c. 331 K d. 308 K
22. The density of a salt solution is 1.13 g/cm . The solution contains 17% sodium chloride.
3

What volume (cm3) of solution will contain 35 g of sodium chloride?

a. 128 b. 145 c. 213 d. 182
23. The KCIO3 in a 0.1279-g sample of an explosive was determined by reaction with 50.00 mL
of 0.08930 M Fe2+:
CIO3- + 6Fe2+ + 6H+ → CI- + 3H2O + 6Fe3+
When the reaction was complete. the excess Fe 2+ was back-titrated with 14.93 mL of
0.083610 M Ce4+. Calculate the percentage of KClO3 in the sample.
a. 31% b. 41% c. 51% d. 61%
24. A 0.357 g sample contains only lead iodide and sodium iodide in 100 milliliter distilled water.
Titration to the Fajan’s end point requires 22.37 mL of 0.05 M silver nitrate. What is the mass
percent of lead iodide in the sample?
a. 18% b. 1.6% c. 53% d. 47%
25. A 58.3 mg sample containing Sn2+ is dissolved in 1.0 M HCl. If the 23.6 mL of 0.010 M TI 3+
was required to titrate to endpoint, what is the mass percent (w/w%) of tin in the original
sample?
a. 48% b. 28% c. 24% d. 14%
26. The density of diamond is 3.51 g/cm 3. The international (but non-SI) unit for reporting the
masses of diamonds is the “carat”, with 1 carat = 200. mg. What is the volume of a diamond
of mass 0.300 carat?
a. 234 mL b. 1.54 x 10-3 mL c. 0.0171 mL d. 1.243 mL
27. Determine the 1-day BOD for a wastewater whose 5-day BOD at 20OC is 200 mg/L. the
reaction constant is k (base e) = 0.23/day.
a. 114.25 mg/L b. 292.67 mg/L c. 136.67 mg/L d. 60.13 mg/L
28. A wet flue gas has the following composition by vol; 18% oxygen, 70 % nitrogen, 10 %
carbon dioxide and the rest water vapor. Calculate the average molecular weight of the wet
flue gas.
a. 20.32 b. 30.12 c. 30.32 d. 29.76
29. How many milliliters of a 0.10 M potassium permanganate stock solution would be needed
to make 100 Ml OF 0.0250 M potassium permanganate?
a. 2.50 mL b. 4.0 mL c. 10.0 mL d. 25.0 mL
30. A stock solution of sodium acetate is 1.0 M. To make Solution A, 2.00 mL of the stock solution
is transferred and diluted to a total volume of 100 mL. Solution B is made by transferring 5.0
mL of Solution A and diluting it to a total volume of 250 mL. Solution C is made by transferring
1.0 mL of Solution B and diluting it to a total volume of 25 mL. What is the concentration of
Solution C?
a. 1.6 µM b. 16 µM c. 1.6 mM d. 0.16 mM
31. The equation for a normal calibration curve for the detection of iron (II) is determined
experimentally to be: 𝑆 = 12.93 𝑀 − 1𝐶 + 0.0017. Analysis of a sample with unknown
 SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY
School of Engineering and Architecture
Department of Chemical Engineering

concentration gives an absorbance reading of 0.106. What is the concentration of iron (II) in
the unknown?
a. 1.37 M b. 8.06 M c. 9.90 M d. 8.83 M
32. A certain element consists of two stable isotopes with the masses and percent abundances
given below. Determine the molar mass AND identify this element. (NA = 6.022 × 1023/mol)
Mass of an atom % abundance

1.663×10-23 19.9

1.828×10-23 80.1
a. C – 12.011 b. B – 10.81 c. F – 19.00 d. N – 14.00
33. Determine the formal concentration of ammonia in a solution in which it is known to be
40.0% ionized. Kb of ammonia is 1.75 x 10 -5.
a. 5.6 x 106 b. 8.23 x 10-7 c. 2.3 x 10-9 d. 6.56 x 10-5
34. A BOD analysis is begun on Monday. Thirty milliliters of waste with a DO of zero is mixed
with 270 mL of dilution water with a DO of 10 mg/L. The sample is then put in the incubator.
Since the 5th day falls on Saturday and lab personnel do not work on Saturday, the final DO
is measured at 4.0 mg/L. However, it is discovered that the incubator was mistakenly set at
30 oC. Assume a k1 of 0.2 at 20 oC and θ = 1.05. Determine the 5-day 200C BOD of the
sample.
a. 67.1 mg/L b. 56.9 mg/L c. 46.1 mg/L d. 35.2 mg/L
35. During aeration, a cylindrical reactor had a height of 10 cm. Without aeration, the height was
7.5 m. Under these aeration and mixing conditions, the gas holod up in the reactor is
a. 12.5 % b. 25% c. 75% d. 98%
36. A soap bubble of a 15 cm radius is formed by blowing through a 2.5 cm diameter wire loop.
Assume that all soap film goes into making bubbles. The surface tension of the film is
0.02N/m. Find the total work require to make a bubble.
a. 1.4 x 10-3 N-m b. 1.89 x 10-3 N-m c. 2.25 x 10-3 N-m d. 2.10 x 10-3 N-m
37. A pressure drop of 200 kPa is measured over a 400-m length of 8-cm-diameter horizontal
cast iron pipe that transports 20–C water. Determine the flow rate using the Moody diagram.
a. 2.91 x 103 m3/s b. 23.45 x 10-3 m3/s c. 1.22 x 103 m3/s d. 8.55 x 10-3 m3/s
38. A chemical engineer wants to make chlorine from molten sodium chloride. If he uses a current
of one ampere for 5 minutes, how many grams can be produced? BP May 3, 1995
a. 0.11 g b. 0.15 g c. 0.09 g d. 0.14 g
39. The temperature of the calorimeter and contents is raised to 500oC when 1,000 kJ of electric
energy is added to a calorimeter containing 400 g of water. What is the water equivalent of
the calorimeter?
a. 2.01 kcal b. -2.01 kcal c. 2.39 kcal d. -2.39 kcal
40. A sample consisting Na2CO3, NaOH and inert matter weighs 1.179 grams. It is titrated with
0.2239 M HCl with phenolphthalein as indicator, and the resulting solution became colorless
after the addition of 45.62 mL. Methyl orange is then added and 12.85 mL more of the acid
is needed for the color change. What is the percentage of Na 2CO3 in the sample?
a. 24.89% b. 64.95% c. 76.12% d. 25.87%
41. The average temperature of the atmosphere is expressed as Tatm = 288.15 – 6.5z where z is
altitude in km. determine the temperature outside an airplane cruising at 12,000 m.
a. 93 oC b. -77.77 oC c. 27.6 oC d. -63 oC
42. At 25 C, the saturation concentration of oxygen in water is 1.26 mmol/L and the partial
O

pressure of oxygen is 1 atm. The Henry’s law constant will be

 SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY
School of Engineering and Architecture
Department of Chemical Engineering

a. 0.793 atm-L/mmol b. 0.207 atm.L/mmol c. 1.26 atm.L/mmol d. 8.74

atm.L/mmol
43. Filtration leaf test results indicate that the filtration rate of a protein product is 100 dry
lbs/ft2.h. What size production filter would be required to obtain 100 dry lbs of filter cake/h?
a. 65 lbs/ft2-hr b. 1.54 ft2 c. 3.08 ft2 d. 65 ft2
Linkage Problem for Nos. 44 – 46:
Balloons are still used to deploy sensors that monitor meteorological phenomena and the
chemistry of the atmosphere. It is possible to investigate some of the technicalities of ballooning
by using the perfect gas law. Suppose your balloon has a radius of 3.0 m and that it is spherical.
44. What amount of H2 (in moles) is needed to inflate it to 1.0 atm in an ambient temperature
of 25°C at sea level?
a. 4.62 x 103 b. 4.62 x 104 c. 4.34 x 103 d. 4.34 x 102
45. What mass can the balloon lift at sea level, where the density of air is 1.22 kg m−3?
a. 1.38 x 102 b. 9.33 x 103 c. 1.30 x 102 d. 3.44 x 103
46. What would be the payload if He were used instead of H2?
a. 18 b. 138 c. 130 d. 120
47. The KClO3 in a 127.9 mg sample of an explosive was determined by the reaction with 50 mL
of 0.0893 M FeSO4 resulting to its reduction to Cl-. When the reaction was complete, it was
then treated with 10.735 mL of 0.02326 M KMnO 4. Calculate the % KClO3 in the sample.
a. 51.37% b. 67.32% c. 21.06% d. 39.01%
48. A solution of 2.0 g of (+)-glyceraldehyde in 10.0 mL of water was placed in a 100-mm
polarimeter tube. Using the sodium D line, a rotation of 1.74 o was observed at 25oC. (+)-
glyceraldehyde was then mixed with some quantity of (-)-glyceraldehyde and the resulting
mixture had a specific rotation of +6.9 o. What percentage of the mixture was (-)-
glyceraldehyde?
a. 8.7% b. 10.35% c. 20.69% d. 56.10%
49. A solution is known to contain NaOH, Na2CO3, or NaHCO3, or possible compatible mixture of
these, together with inert components. Using phenolphthalein and methyl orange as
indicators, 35.5 mL and 50.1 mL of HCl respectively, are required to reach the endpoint for
a 1000-g sample. What is the molar concentration of HCl solution used if the sample contains
19.9% inert matters?
a. 0.34 M b. 0.39 M c. 0.41 M d. 0.96 M
50. Stray light hitting the detector will produce erroneous results when the absorbance of a
solution is measured. Calculate the apparent absorbance of a solution if the measured
absorbance is 0.850 and 2.50% stray light has entered the system.
a. 0.88 b. 0.66 c. 0.08 d. 0.21