Answer:
HCO₂
Explanation:
From the information given:
The mass of the elements are:
Carbon C = 26.7 g; Hydrogen H = 2.24 g Oxygen O = 71.1 g
To determine the empirical formula;
First thing is to find the numbers of moles of each atom.
For Carbon:
[tex]=26.7 \ g\times \dfrac{1 \ mol }{12.01 \ g} \\ \\ =2.22 \ mol \ of \ Carbon[/tex]
For Hydrogen:
[tex]=2.24 \ g\times \dfrac{1 \ mol }{1.008 \ g} \\ \\ =2.22 \ mol \ of \ Hydrogen[/tex]
For Oxygen:
[tex]=71.1 \ g\times \dfrac{1 \ mol }{1.008 \ g} \\ \\ =4.44 \ mol \ of \ oxygen[/tex]
Now; we use the smallest no of moles to divide the respective moles from above.
For carbon:
[tex]\dfrac{2.22 \ mol \ of \ carbon}{2.22} =1 \ mol \ of \ carbon[/tex]
For Hydrogen:
[tex]\dfrac{2.22 \ mol \ of \ carbon}{2.22} =1 \ mol \ of \ hydrogen[/tex]
For Oxygen:
[tex]\dfrac{4.44 \ mol \ of \ Oxygen}{2.22} =2 \ mol \ of \ oxygen[/tex]
Thus, the empirical formula is HCO₂
