This is kind of tricky for me.

What os the empirical formula (lowest whole number ratio) of the compounds below?

A.

25.3% Cu, 12.9% S, 25.7% O, 36.1% water

How would i set this up? The water at the end is confusing me. I think I need to find the percentage of water inside the whole thing first, but I would be wrong. Can you help?

6 answers

Do it just as you did the MgBr2.
25.3/atomic mass Cu =
12.9/atomc mass S =
25.7/atomc mass O =
36.1/molar mass H2O =
You already have the percent water in the entire molecule. The formula will come out
as CuxSyOz*WH2O
I don't know that this is the formula but it would look somthing like this.
CuSO4*5H2O
I'm still confused. Okay I solved everything but H20

25.3g Cu 1 mole/63.54 = .40
12.9g S 1 mole/32.064 = .40
25.7g O 1 mole/15.999 = 1.61

But what do i do with the H20? Can you work this part for me? I want to see how you did it
Cu = 25.3/63.54 = 0.398 (You have 3 places in 25.3 so don't throw anything away, at least not yet).
S = 12.9/32.064 = 0.402
O = 25.7/15.999 = 1.606
H2O = 36.1/18.015 = 2.00
Now we divide everything by the smallest, which is 0.398

Cu = 0.398/0.398 = 1.000
S = 0.402/0.398 = 1.01
O = 1.606/0.398 = 4.035
H2O = 2.00/0.398 = 5.025

So we round off to whole numbers now.
Cu 1.000 becomes 1.00
S 1.01 becomes 1.00
O 4.035 becomes 4.00
H2O 5.025 becomes 5.00
The formula is
Cu1S1O4*5H2O or since the 1s are not needed, the formula is CuSO4*5H2O
My teacher always told us to round to the hundreths place. How did you get 18.015 ??
aah wait i see how now.
I use a web site to do all my molar mass stuff. Here is a link if you want to use it. http://environmentalchemistry.com/yogi/reference/molar.html
Similar Questions
  1. What is the empirical formula of benzene, C6H6?I know how to find empirical formula; as long as you know the moles, you can find
    1. answers icon 1 answer
  2. mass of mg- .28mass of o- .41 calculate the moles of mg and o what is the simples whole number ratio of the moles of mg to the
    1. answers icon 1 answer
  3. How do I find the empirical formula for aluminium selenide?You have to have some data, such as masses, or percent: Empirical
    1. answers icon 0 answers
  4. write the empirical formula for each of the following molecular formulae"a)P4O10 b)C2H6 Confused as to what the diff.is b/w
    1. answers icon 2 answers
more similar questions