Greetings!
To find the empirical formula you need the relative atomic mass of each element!
Li = 6.9
C = 12
O = 16
You can simply change the percentages into full grams
Li = 18.8g
C = 16.3g
O = 64.9
Then you use this to find the Number of moles = amount in grams / atomic mass
Li = 18.8 ÷ 6.9 = 2.7246
C = 16.3 ÷ 12 = 1.3583
O = 64.9 ÷ 16 = 4.0562
Then divide each number of moles by the smallest value:
Li = 2.7246 ÷ 1.3583 = 2.0
C = 1.3583 ÷ 1.3583 = 1
O = 4.0562 ÷ 1.3583 = 2.9 ≈ 3
So that means that there are 2 Li, 1 C, and 3 O
Empirical formula would be:
Li₂CO₃
Hope this helps!
