Ascorbic acid is a compound containing of three element C,H, and O when a 0.214g sample is burned in oxyzen 0.320g of CO2 and 0.0874g H2O are formed. What is the Empirical formula of ascorbic acid?

Answer 1

Convert g CO2 to g C.
0.320 g CO2 x (12/44) = ?
Convert g H2O to g H.
0.0874 x (2/18) = ?
Then g O = 0.214 - g C - g H.

% C = [g C/0.214]*100 = ?
% O = [g O/0.214]*100 = ?
% H = [g H/0.214]*100 = ?

Now take 100 g sample which will give you those percentages as g C, H, O.

Convert to mols by
mols C = g C/12 = ?
mols H = g H/1 = ?
mols O = g O/16 = ?

Find the whole number ratio of these elements to each other. The easy way to do that is to divide the smallest number by itself; the divide the other number by the same small number. Post your work if you run into troble.