Acompound is found to contain 54.5% carbon, 9.1% hydrogen, and 36.4% oxygen. determine the simplest formula.

Answer : The simplest formula of a compound is,

Solution :

If percentage are given then we are taking total mass is 100 grams.

So, the mass of each element is equal to the percentage given.

Mass of C = 54.5 g

Mass of H = 9.1 g

Mass of O = 36.4 g

Molar mass of C = 12 g/mole

Molar mass of H = 1 g/mole

Molar mass of O = 16 g/mole

Step 1 : convert given masses into moles.

Moles of C =

Moles of H =

Moles of O =

Step 2 : For the mole ratio, divide each value of moles by the smallest number of moles calculated.

For C =

For H =

For O =

The ratio of C : H : O = 2 : 4 : 1

The mole ratio of the element is represented by subscripts in empirical formula.

The Empirical formula =

Therefore, the simplest formula of the compound is,