Which of the following statements about general moisture testing procedures is accurate?

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Multiple Choice

Which of the following statements about general moisture testing procedures is accurate?

In moisture testing by loss on drying, you determine how much water was in the sample by comparing its weight before and after drying. The percent moisture by weight is calculated as the water lost during drying divided by the original sample mass, then multiplied by 100. This uses the original mass as the reference because you’re measuring what fraction of the starting sample was water. Why this is the best match: it directly expresses the moisture content as a percentage of the original sample, which is the standard way moisture by weight is reported. If you divided by the dry mass instead, you’d be reporting moisture on a dry basis, which is a different measurement. The other options aren’t correct: ignoring the loss would omit essential data, and adding the loss back or multiplying by 10 isn’t how moisture content is calculated.

In moisture testing by loss on drying, you determine how much water was in the sample by comparing its weight before and after drying. The percent moisture by weight is calculated as the water lost during drying divided by the original sample mass, then multiplied by 100. This uses the original mass as the reference because you’re measuring what fraction of the starting sample was water.

Why this is the best match: it directly expresses the moisture content as a percentage of the original sample, which is the standard way moisture by weight is reported. If you divided by the dry mass instead, you’d be reporting moisture on a dry basis, which is a different measurement. The other options aren’t correct: ignoring the loss would omit essential data, and adding the loss back or multiplying by 10 isn’t how moisture content is calculated.

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