A 0.00215-g sample of polystyrene, a polymer composed of carbon and hydrogen, produced 0.00726 g of CO2 and 0.00148 g of H2O in a combustion analysis. What is the empirical formula for polystyrene?

CH

Explanation:

Polystyrene is composed only by C and H.

We can calculate the number of C moles contained in the original sample mass (0.00215 g), using the produced mass of CO₂:

As 1.65x10⁻⁴ moles of CO₂ were produced, in the polystyrene sample there were 1.65x10⁻⁴ moles of C.

Now we calculate how many moles of H₂O were produced:

The number of H moles produced is double the amount of H₂O moles, so in the polystyrene sample there were 1.64x10⁻⁴ moles of H.

The number of C and H moles are the same, this means the empirical formula is CH.

i'm pretty sure its b i might be wrong though!

"record the time to complete a chemical reaction" would most likely be part of a lab procedure.