Question

(See Photo)What are the Molecular and empirical Camila formulas of a compound meet up with these molecules?The line stand for chemical bonds between atoms. You can ignore the dots they represent lone pairs and you’ll learn about them later.Molecular formula?Empirical formula?

Answer 1

The molecular formula of the compound shown in the image is
`H_2C_2O_2`. This means that each molecule of the compound contains 2 hydrogen atoms, 2 carbon atoms, and 2 oxygen atoms.

The empirical formula of the compound is HCO. This means that the compound is made up of hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen in a 1:1:1 ratio.

To find the empirical formula, one first need to determine the smallest whole number ratio of the atoms in the compound. one can do this by dividing the number of each atom by the smallest number of atoms.

In this case, one divide the number of hydrogen atoms by 2, the number of carbon atoms by 2, and the number of oxygen atoms by 2.

This gives us a ratio of 1:1:1, which is the empirical formula.

Answer 2

Step 1 - Discovering the molecular formula

Since this compound only has H, C and O atoms, its molecular formula will be something like:

`H_xC_yO_z`

With x, y and z representing the number of each atom in this compound. By counting the number of atoms, we know that there are, in this molecule, 2 H, 2 C and 2 O. Its molecular formula will be thus:

`H_2C_2O_2`

Step 2 - Discovering the empirical formula

The empirical formula can be found by dividing all the numbers by a common factor. We do this because the empirical formula expresses the least possible proportion between the elements.

Looking at the molecular formula we have found, H2C2O2, we can see that all numbers are divisible by 2. Therefore our empirical formula will be:

`\text{HCO}`

The molecular formula is thus H2C2O2 and the empirical one HCO.