Question

One of the components that make up common table sugar is fructose, a compound that contains only carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. complete combustion of 1.50 g of fructose produces 2.20 g of carbon dioxide and 0.900 g of water. what is the empirical formula of fructose? answer

Answer 1

The empirical formula of fructose is CH2O. The moles of Carbon and Hydrogen in the fructose are .6g (2.2g*(12 g/mol/44g/mol)) and .1g (.9g*(2g/mol/18g/mol)) respectively. The mass of Oxygen in the fructose is the remainder (.8g) Converting these amounts to moles gives us: .05 moles C, .1 moles H, and .05 moles O. This gives molar ratios of 1C:2H:1O, which can be rewritten as CH2O.