A 20.0 g sample of a compound of nitrogen and oxygen contains 7.37 g of nitrogen. what is the formula of this compound?

N2O3 Determine the number of moles of oxygen and nitrogen you have: Atomic weight nitrogen = 14.0067 Atomic weight oxygen = 15.999 Moles nitrogen = 7.37 / 14.0067 = 0.526176758 moles Moles oxygen = (20 - 7.37) / 15.999 = 12.63 / 15.999 = 0.789424339 moles So the nitrogen to oxygen ratio is 0.526176758 : 0.789424339 We need a ratio of small integers that's close to the above ratio, so divide by the smallest number in ratio, getting 1 : 1.500302564 The 1.500 isn't close, but it does indicate that multiplying by 2 should be useful, giving 2 : 3.000605127 And the ratio 2:3 looks good. So the empirical formula for the unknown compound is N2O3