Need help with percentages

[ladyrose]

I want to add vitamin e to my lip balms and lotion bars. MMS suggests .1- .25 percent. How do I figure out what one tenth of a percent is in my receipie? What is the formula to calculate it? If I use 8 oz total of oils and butters what would that convert to for .1% (one tenth of 1 percent)? It seems very confusing but I'm hoping there is an easy way to figure it out.
Thanks.

 

[Healinya]

A tenth of a percent for 8 oz. of oil would be 8 X .001 = .008

one quarter of a percent would be 8 X .025 = .2

 

[ladyrose]

Thanks but I know how to figure that out the math part. What I need to know is how much is .008 or .2? How much vit e would someone add to 8 oz of oils & butters? Would it be a teaspoon? A tablespoon? 8 drops? How do I figure that out for my formula? Thanks

 

[carebear]

to do this right you need to work by weight, not teaspoons or drops. and yea, you are going to need a scale that's accurate to those levels.
0.1% of 8 oz (weight) = 0.1% of 226.8
0.001 X 226.8 = 0.23 grams.

This is much less than a teaspoon (approx 5 mls = APPROX 5 grams) or even a quarter teaspoon.

I TOTALLY think that working with drops is as inaccurate as you can get BUT the rule of thumb is that 1 ml = 20 drops.
working with water, 1ml = 1 gram. so IN THEORY if you had water you would use 4.6 drops. but vit E is way viscous and not like water. and good luck getting 0.6 drops. Still I think you can try to kinda estimate with this information since Vit E is not one of those "precision" ingredients like preservatives are.

 

[Healinya]

Maybe this can help too when weighing. http://www.lemelange.com/conversion_chart.htm

Sorry I can't really explain it. I get it in my head ok, I just can't type it out right.

 

[char]

I'm glad someone brought this up, since I had a question about this as well.

How do you accurately measure fractions of grams? What tools are best for such small quantities (other than a scale)? Any pipettes or measuring devices?

I thinking specifically situations where you may be making a one-time use batch and need .1 grams or even less of an oil. For dry items such as powders, it's not bad since you can use a scale and add/remove small amounts to get to a precise weight.

However for oils and liquids, most droppers aren't that precise and it would be hard to narrow in on a specific weight. Also, with quantities less than a gram, it seems that a lot of your oil or liquid would actually stick to the bowl or cup, and you'd never really get the measured amount into your product.

Do they sell non-stick, teflon type bowls such that with small amounts of an oil, you can accurately measure and pour out something less than a gram?

 

[carebear]

you can get lab quality pipettes. glass is best unless you wish to invest in an auto-pipetter. disposable pipettes are like measuring in pinches and shakes...

but you then have to remember to convert your weights to volume and for this you need the specific gravity (like density but no units) of your material.

but even with powders you have to use caution in measuring small changes - if you dribble onto the scale it re-tares itself and doesn't measure these changes...

 

[earthmother99]

weights

Maybe this will help: 60 drops = 1 tsp = 4c.c.= or m.l. = 60 minims,=60 grains=1 dram =1/8 ounce