Answer to Question #140375 in General Chemistry for Mahdi

Question

A 10.68 g sample of compound that contains only carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen was analyzed through combustion analysis and yielded 16.01 g of CO₂ and 4.37 g of H₂O. What is this compound's empirical formula?

Answer 1

The moles of carbon consumed =$(16.01)/12$ =2moles=x

Moles of hydrogen consumed= $(4.37/1)$ = 4.37moles= y

Z= $(16.01+ 4.37)/10.68$ =2 moles

Then the empirical formula of

the compound becomes C_xH_yO_z= C₂H₄O₂