Answer:
B. Convert mass percents to moles and then divide by the smallest mole value to get subscripts
Explanation:
The empirical formula is the smallest whole number ratio the elements in a compound can possess. According to this question, to derive the empirical formula of a compound from its percent composition of elements that make it up, the following steps are followed:
- First, since the elements are in percentage, one would assume the total mass of the compound is 100g and take each percentage as the mass of each element. For example, if a compound contains 16% oxygen, it means that 16g of oxygen is present.
- Next, we convert the mass of each element to moles by dividing the mass value by the molar mass of each element. For example, 16g of oxygen will be 16g/16g/mol = 1mol
- Next, we divide each mole value by the smallest mole value to get the subscript of each element that will be used in the empirical formula.
