Question

A compound is found to contain 6.1% hydrogen and 93.9% oxygen. Find it’s empirical formula.

Answer 1

Answer:

CH.

Explanation:

• If the mass of the sample is 1.0 g, this means that it contains 6.1 g hydrogen and 93.9 g oxygen.

• We can obtain the no. of moles by dividing by its atomic masses.

The no. of moles of hydrogen = mass / atomic mass = (6.10 g)/(1.00 g/mol) = 6.10 mol.

The no. of moles of oxygen = mass / atomic mass = (93.90 g)/(16.00 g/mol) = 5.86 mol.

• We can obtain the empirical formula of the compound by dividing both no. of moles by the lowest no. of moles (5.86)

∴ The ratio of H:O is (1.04: 1.00) which is mainly 1.0: 1.0.

So, the empirical formula of the compound is CH.