Expert: Josh - 1/19/2009

Question
Question 1
A pharmaceutical company makes tablets which contain calcium in powder form. 85 kg of calcium powder is delivered to the company, from which 800 boxes of tablets are made. Each ox contains 150 tablets. A worker is asked to calculate how many milligrams of calcium there are per tablet. she does the following calculation, which she later discovers is wrong: 85/(800x150)=5.33x10^-4kg. Hence there are 5.33mg per tablet.

Question2
Charl,a factory worker, receives a memorandum requesting him to check the stocktake figures of the total quantity of printing ink stored in the factory and offices. The amount on the stocktake form is 1,35x10^5ml. Charl counts up to 50 ink containers of 200ml in offices, as well as 250 containers of 500ml in the factory. Charl reports that the stock take record does not tally with his findings, and recommends an investigation into possible theft of ink, as he can only count for 50x200+250x500=135litres.

For each question:



1. Summarise briefly what you think happened in this  situation

2.Determine the main cause/s and who or what was responsible, and the possible consequences

3.Provide a possible action to correct the situation, and/or provide a possible action to prevent such as situation happening in the future."

Answer
These look like homework questions....and they are very similar to the one I answered last time. I think you should attempt these yourself. If you are stuck, then you should state clearly what problem you are experiencing when you pose the question.

For Q1, 85[kg]/(800x150)=0.000708333 kilogram. Converting the answer to milligram, we have 0.7083 mg/tablet.

For Q2, 1.35 x 10^5 mL is in fact equivalent to 135 L. Is it a case of the worker not understanding scientific notations and the relationship between mL and L?