Question

What is the empirical formula of a substance that contains 8.33×10−2 mol of carbon, 0.167 mol of hydrogen, and 8.32×10−2 mol of oxygen?

Answer 1

Looks to me like C and O are virtually equal and H is double those, so:

CH_20, which is the empirical formula for carbohydrates.

Answer 2

Answer: The empirical formula for the given compound is $CH_2O$

Explanation:

We are given:

Moles of carbon = $8.33\times 10^{-2}mol$

Moles of hydrogen = 0.167 moles

Moles of oxygen = $8.32\times 10^{-2}mol$

To formulate the empirical formula, we need to follow some steps:

• Step 1: Calculating the mole ratio of the given elements.

For the mole ratio, we divide each value of the moles by the smallest number of moles calculated which is $8.32\times 10^{-2}$ moles.

For Carbon = $\frac{8.33\times 10^{-2}}{8.32\times 10^{-2}}=1$

For Hydrogen = $\frac{0.167}{8.32\times 10^{-2}}=2.01\approx 2$

For Oxygen = $\frac{8.32\times 10^{-2}}{8.32\times 10^{-2}}=1$

• Step 2: Taking the mole ratio as their subscripts.

The ratio of C : H : O = 1 : 2 : 1

Hence, the empirical formula for the given compound is $CH_2O$