An organic compound is composed of 62.17% Carbon, 27.8% Hydrogen, and x oxygen. Determine the empirical…

Question

An organic compound is composed of 62.17% Carbon, 27.8% Hydrogen, and x oxygen. Determine the empirical formula of the compound.

ScanSolve AI Tutor · Accepted Answer

To determine the empirical formula, we first convert the given percentages to masses, then to moles, and finally find the simplest whole-number ratio of the moles.

The question states: "An organic compound is composed of 62.17 Carbon, 10.41% hydrogen, and 27.8% Carbon, x oxygen."
There appears to be a typo in the percentages. Based on the sum of percentages being close to 100% ( $62.17 + 10.41 + 27.8 = 100.38$ ), we will assume the composition is:

Carbon (C): 62.17%
Hydrogen (H): 10.41%
Oxygen (O): 27.8%

Assume a 100 g sample.
This converts the percentages directly into masses:
Mass of C = $62.17 \text{ g}$
Mass of H = $10.41 \text{ g}$
Mass of O = $27.8 \text{ g}$
Convert the mass of each element to moles using their atomic masses (C = 12.01 g/mol, H = 1.008 g/mol, O = 16.00 g/mol).
Moles of C:
$\text{Moles of C} = \frac{62.17 \text{ g}}{12.01 \text{ g/mol}} = 5.1765 \text{ mol}$
Moles of H:
$\text{Moles of H} = \frac{10.41 \text{ g}}{1.008 \text{ g/mol}} = 10.3274 \text{ mol}$
Moles of O:
$\text{Moles of O} = \frac{27.8 \text{ g}}{16.00 \text{ g/mol}} = 1.7375 \text{ mol}$
Divide each mole value by the smallest number of moles to find the simplest mole ratio.
The smallest number of moles is $1.7375 \text{ mol}$ (for Oxygen).
Ratio for C:
$\frac{5.1765 \text{ mol}}{1.7375 \text{ mol}} \approx 2.979 \approx 3$
Ratio for H:
$\frac{10.3274 \text{ mol}}{1.7375 \text{ mol}} \approx 5.944 \approx 6$
Ratio for O:
$\frac{1.7375 \text{ mol}}{1.7375 \text{ mol}} = 1$
Write the empirical formula using these whole-number ratios.
The empirical formula is $\text{C}_3\text{H}_6\text{O}$ .

An organic compound is composed of 62.17% Carbon, 27.8% Hydrogen, and x oxygen. Determine the empirical formula of the compound.

Answer

Step-by-step solution

Assume a 100 g sample.

Convert the mass of each element to moles using their atomic masses (C = 12.01 g/mol, H = 1.008 g/mol, O = 16.00 g/mol).

Divide each mole value by the smallest number of moles to find the simplest mole ratio.

Write the empirical formula using these whole-number ratios.

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