A pure compound is found to be 40.0% carbon by mass, 6.73% hydrogen by mass, and 53.3% oxygen by mass. determine the empirical formula of the compound. be sure to show your work.

Question

Kathy

Chemistry

21 October, 18:58

A pure compound is found to be 40.0% carbon by mass, 6.73% hydrogen by mass, and 53.3% oxygen by mass. determine the empirical formula of the compound. be sure to show your work.

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Answers (1)

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Mia Nichols · Answer 1

Since there is no weight, I would assume that this is a 100g of pure compound.

Okay so I would be changing the percentage to gram to solve for the mole.

So

40.0g C (1 mol C/12.01 g C) = 3.33 mol C

6.73g H (1 mol H/1.01 g H) = 6.66 mol H

53.3g O (1 mol O/16.00 g O) = 3.33 mol O

With that, two of our moles is 3.33, so we consider that are our 1, as it is also the lowest. Therefore the empirical formula is CH2O