00:01
The empirical formula is the simplest formula of a compound, while the molecular formula is its actual formula.
00:09
In this problem, we assume we have 100 grams of the compound, so that the given percentages of the element is also their respective masses.
00:21
We have grams of carbon to be equal to 64 .9, grams of hydrogen is 13 .5, grams of oxygen is 21 .6.
00:30
We convert these into moles by dividing these masses by the respective molar mass of the element.
00:40
So for carbon, we have 64 .9 divided by 12 .01, which is 5 .40.
00:54
For hydrogen, we have 13 .5 divided by 1 .008, which is equal to 13 .39.
01:11
For oxygen, we have 21 .6 divided by 16, that gives us 1 .35.
01:25
We then take the mole ratio, that is mole of carbon to mole of hydrogen to mole of oxygen, and we will divide them by the smallest among them, which is 1 .35.
01:42
So this is the way we simplify these numbers...