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Percentage and Ratio

Strength Calculations
Percentage
Percent weight-in-volume (w/v): The number of grams of a constituent
in 100 ml of solution or liquid preparation.
-The term used for solutions or suspensions of solids in liquids.

Percent volume-in-volume (v/v): The number of ml of a constituent in
100 ml of solution or liquid preparation.
- The term used for solutions of liquids in liquids.

Percent weight-in-weight (w/w): The number of grams of a constituent
in 100 g of solution or mixture.
-The term used for mixtures of solids and semisolids.

The term milligrams percent (mg%): The number of milligrams of a
substance in 100 ml of liquid.
- The term used to denote the concentration of a drug or natural
substance in a biological fluid, as in the blood.


Percentage and ratio strength (Cont.)
Parts per million (ppm): The term used for very dilute
solutions. It is used to designate test limits. e.g.the limit
of arsenic in zinc oxide is 6 ppm.
Examples


1- How many grams of dextrose are required to prepare 4000 ml of
a 5% solution ??
Answer

5 % w/v means :
5 gm 100 ml

X gm 4000 ml

X = 200 gm
Percentage and ratio strength (Cont.)
2- A sunscreen lotion contains 5 % (v/v) of menthyl
salicylate. How many milliliters of menthyl salicylate
should be used in preparing 5 pt of the lotion ??
Answer
5 pt = 5 x 16 f-oz x 30 ml = 2400 ml

5 ml 100 ml lotion

X ml 2400 ml

X = 120 ml
Percentage and ratio strength (Cont.)
3- If 1500 g of a solution contain 75 g of a drug substance,
what is the percentage strength (w/w) of the solution ??

Answer
75 g of drug 1500 g
X g 100 g
% = 75 x 100 / 1500 = 5 % w/w

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