Calculating the percentage of silica

[xiphoid]

Homework Statement

A partially dried clay mineral contains 8% of water, the original sample contained 12% water and 45% silica. Then, the percentage of silica in the partially dried sample is nearly?

Homework Equations

Don't know if this is would help in the calculation,
in the original sample, 12% water is present, hence non water components are consisting of 88%

The Attempt at a Solution

Attempted one but was out of range of the concept to be used.

 

[tiny-tim]

hi xiphoid!

hint: suppose the original sample was 100 g (12 g water, 45 g silica, 43 g other stuff)

 

[xiphoid]

I had that stuff in my mind but couldn't manage to calculate further

hi xiphoid!

hint: suppose the original sample was 100 g (12 g water, 45 g silica, 43 g other stuff)

 

[tiny-tim]

I had that stuff in my mind but couldn't manage to calculate further

ok, after the sample has dried, the water is less but everything else is the same

so call it x g water, 45 g silica, 43 g other stuff, …

from the question, what equation can you find for x ? ​