A compound contains 1.2 g of carbon, 3.2 g of oxygen and 0.2g of hydrogen. Find the formula of the compound

The empirical formula of the compound is .

Explanation:

We need to determine the empirical formula in its simplest form, where hydrogen () is scaled up to a mole, since it has the molar mass, and both carbon () and oxygen () are also scaled up in the same magnitude. The empirical formula is of the form:

Where , are the number of moles of the carbon and oxygen, respectively.

The scale factor (), no unit, is calculated by the following formula:

(1)

Where:

- Mass of hydrogen, in grams.

- Molar mass of hydrogen, in grams per mole.

If we know that   and , then the scale factor is:

The molar masses of carbon () and oxygen () are and , then, the respective numbers of moles are: (, , )

Carbon

(2)

Oxygen

(3)

Hence, the empirical formula of the compound is .

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