A 10,000 g sample of a compound is found to contain 6.545 g of carbon, 0.545 g of hydrogen, and the remainder of the mass is contributed by oxygen. Determine its empirical formula.

Question

Find the empirical formula please and thank you

Answer 1

I'm going to assume that we have a 10.000g sample, not 10,000g, else the problem is meaningless.

6.545g C /(12g C/1 mol C) = 0.545 mol C

0.545g H /(1.0g H/1 mol H) = 0.545 mol H

2.91g O /(16g O/1 mol O) = 0.182 mol O

Divide the C and the H moles by the smallest number 0.182 and you get a 3:3:1 ratio, hence the empirical formula is C₃H₃O.