Ask Experts Questions for FREE Help !
Ask
    sparkletg's Avatar
    sparkletg Posts: 1, Reputation: 1
    New Member
    		  
    #1

    Dec 30, 2006, 12:00 AM
    Calc. Empirical formulas and molecular formulas
    :eek! :
    a sample is made of 18g of C and 81.5g of H... the molecular mass of the compound is 104g/mole

    calc. the empirical formula...
    calc. the molecular formula

    OK.. so I got the moles, I think.:confused: .
    C= 18g X 1mole = 1.4987g
    1 12.01( Atomic mass)

    H= 1.5g X 1mole = 1.5g
    1 1g ( Atomic mass)

    now I don't know what is next.. so I did..
    1.4987g/mole / 1.5g/mole = .99g( I don't know what this number is for)

    and I have no idea what to do next...
    rudi_in's Avatar
    rudi_in Posts: 251, Reputation: 45
    Full Member
    		  
    #2

    Dec 30, 2006, 12:33 AM
    Thank you for posting your question to the Ask Me Help Desk.

    Double check your units!

    Now, I did not check the math but the values seem reasonable (I am assuming the 81.5g H that you listed is a typo and should be 1.5g based on your calculations), however, you are converting to moles so you need to have moles as your units.

    18 g C = 1.4987 mol C

    1.5 g H = 1.5 mol H

    Now we need to look at lowest whole number ratios of the elements present.

    When you divided you were establishing the ratios.

    Both of them equal out to 1.

    So we have a 1:1 ratio of C to H

    Therefore our empirical formula is CH.

    Since the molar mass of the molecular formula is 104g

    We can divide this out using the mass of the empirical formula.

    104 ÷ 13.02 which will give us about 8.

    Now factor that over the empirical formula to get

    C8H8 as the molecular formula
Not your question? Ask your question View similar questions
 

Question Tools Search this Question
Search this Question:

Advanced Search


Check out some similar questions!

How to: technical and scientific documentation/formulas [ 1 Answers ]

The tag lets you easily embed nicely formatted math in your questions and answers. The particular convention Ask Me Help Desk uses is mimeTex, a version of LaTeX. Please read the tutorial if you would like to use it extensively. Example usage: x{\small_1}=\frac{-b\pm\sqrt{b^2-4ac}}{2a} ...

Nesting IF functions and formulas [ 1 Answers ]

Hi, am a newby to this forum and have a problem. Am working on a payroll spreadsheet for a friend's business using If functions and have exceeded the seven it allows so am trying to break it out into formulas-which have forgotten how to do. Can somebody help? Thank you. scakya

Evaluate formulas [ 6 Answers ]

evaluate: x^2+y^3 if x=2 y=-3 4+-27=-23 -------------------- pm^2-z^3 if p=1 m=-4 z=-2 (1)(-4^2)-(-2)^3=(1)(16)-(-8)=16+8=24 ------------------------------------- -x^2-y^3 if x=-3 y=-2 -3^2-2^3 -9-8=-17

View more questions Search