A sample of organic compound contains 0.624g carbon,0.065 hydrogen,0.364g nitrogen and 0.208g what is the emperical formula of the compound

1 answer

To find the empirical formula, we need to determine the mole ratio of the elements in the compound.

1. Calculate the number of moles for each element:
- Moles of carbon: 0.624g / molar mass of carbon = 0.624g / 12.01g/mol = 0.0520 mol
- Moles of hydrogen: 0.065g / molar mass of hydrogen = 0.065g / 1.01g/mol = 0.0644 mol
- Moles of nitrogen: 0.364g / molar mass of nitrogen = 0.364g / 14.01g/mol = 0.0259 mol
- Moles of oxygen: 0.208g / molar mass of oxygen = 0.208g / 16.00g/mol = 0.0130 mol

2. Determine the mole ratio by dividing each element's moles by the smallest number of moles (in this case, nitrogen):
- Carbon: 0.0520 mol / 0.0259 mol = 2.01 (approximately)
- Hydrogen: 0.0644 mol / 0.0259 mol = 2.49 (approximately)
- Nitrogen: 0.0259 mol / 0.0259 mol = 1
- Oxygen: 0.0130 mol / 0.0259 mol = 0.50 (approximately)

3. Round off the mole ratio to the nearest whole number to get the empirical formula:
C2H2.5N1O0.5

Since we cannot have fractional subscripts in the empirical formula, multiply all the subscripts by 2 to get rid of the decimal:
C4H5N2O

Therefore, the empirical formula of the compound is C4H5N2O.