Question

A compound is found to contain 63.52% iron and 36.48% sulfur. Find its empirical formula.

Answer 1

First, we consider 63.52% and 36.48% for 100g of the compound.

So there are 63.52 g of Iron and 36.48 g of Sulfur.

Now it is necessary to pass these values to the amount of matter (mol). We do this by dividing each of the values found by their respective molar masses:

Iron: 63.52/55.845 = 1.14

Sulfur: 36.48/32.065 = 1.14

Now we can divide by 1.14:

Iron: 1.14/1.14 = 1

Sulfur: 1.14/1.14 = 1

Thus, the mpirical formula of this unknown substance is equal to

FeS

Answer: FeS