Question

a compound is found to contain 31.1% sulfur and 68.9% chlorine determine the empirical formula for the sulfur and chlorine sample

Answer 1

Empirical formula = S₁Cl₂ = SCl₂

Step-by-step explanation:

The empirical formula of a compound is the simplest whole number ratio of each type of atom in a compound.

This compound contains 31.1% sulfur and 68.9% chlorine.

That is 100g of the compound contains 31.1 g of sulfur and 68.9 g of chlorine.

Convert the mass of each element to moles using the molar mass from the periodic table.

Moles of Sulfur =
`(31.1)/(32.065 ) \\`

= 0.9699

Moles of Chlorine=
`(68.9)/(35.453 ) \\`

= 1.9434

Divide each mole value by the smallest number of moles calculated.

Units of sulfur =
`(0.9699)/(0.9699) \\`

= 1

Units of Chlorine =
`(1.9434)/(0.9699) \\`

= 2

Empirical formula = S₁Cl₂ = SCl₂