Question

What is the empirical formula of ascorbic acid, given that the pseudoformula is c3.407h4.53o3.406? express your answer as a chemical formula?

Answer 1

Answer:

The chemical formula of the ascorbic acid is $C_{10}H_{13}O_{10}$.

Explanation:

Empirical formula is the simplest chemical formula which tells the whole number of atoms of each element present in the compound.

The pseudo-formula of ascorbic acid = $C_{3.407}H_{4.53}O_{3.406}$

In order to determine the empirical formula divide each number of atoms of every element with the smallest number of atoms present in the given  formula.

$C_{\frac{3.407}{3.406}}H_{\frac{4.53}{3.406}}O_{\frac{3.406}{3.406}}$

$C_{1.0}H_{1.3}O_1$

$C_{10}H_{13}O_{10}$

The chemical formula of the ascorbic acid is $C_{10}H_{13}O_{10}$.

Answer 2

Empirical formula is the simplest positive integer ratio of atoms present in a compound. 
Ascorbic acid contains carbon , hydrogen and oxygen.
To get the empirical in this case we divide by the smallest value;
3.407/3.406 : 34.53/3.406 : 3.406/3.406
=  1 : 1.33 : 1
this is equivalent to; 1 : 4/3 : 1 , multiplying by 3
we get 3 : 4 : 3
Therefore the empirical formula will be C3H4O3