How do you determine empirical formula with compound elements?

Answer 1

molar mass over grams of element

The above answer is somewhat correct. In order to find the molecular formula when given the empirical formula, you must first find the molar mass of the empirical formula.

MOLAR MASS

# atoms element A x Atomic Mass element A (Periodic Table) = mass A

# atoms element B x Atomic Mass element B (Periodic Table) = mass B

... etc.

Add up all of the mass values found above and you have the molar mass.

Then, after you have found the empirical formula's molar mass, you divide the molar mass of the molecular formula by the empirical formula's molar mass (solving for n).

MOLECULAR FORMULA EQUATION: N (Empirical formula) (read as N times empirical formula) where:

N = Molar mass substance

---- Molar Mass emp. form.

Answer 2

All you really need to do is balance the chemical equation, then divide by the greatest common factor to reduce all the coefficients to their lowest whole number value.

so a random equation with the coefficients of 3 3 -> 9

you need to divide the coefficients by 3 to make the formula 1 1 -> 3

1 1 -> 3 is the empirical formula because all the numbers are at the lowest possible whole number value.

Answer 3

To determine the empirical formula of a compound, first find the mass percentage of each element present in the compound. Next, convert the percentage to grams. Then, divide the mass of each element by its molar mass to find the moles. Finally, divide each number of moles by the smallest number of moles obtained to get the mole ratio, which gives you the empirical formula.