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What is the empirical formula of an organic compound if its percentage composition is 26.6% carbon and 2.22% hydrogen?

A. CH
B. CH2
C. C2H
D. C3H

User RS Conley
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1 Answer

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Final answer:

The empirical formula of the organic compound with 26.6% carbon and 2.22% hydrogen is CH.

Step-by-step explanation:

To find the empirical formula, we need to calculate the ratio of atoms in the compound based on the given percentage composition. Given that the compound contains 26.6% carbon and 2.22% hydrogen, we can assume that there are 100 grams of the compound. This means that there are 26.6 grams of carbon and 2.22 grams of hydrogen.

To find the number of moles of each element, we divide the mass by their respective molar masses. The molar mass of carbon is 12.01 g/mol and the molar mass of hydrogen is 1.008 g/mol.

For carbon: n(C) = 26.6 g / 12.01 g/mol = 2.21 mol

For hydrogen: n(H) = 2.22 g / 1.008 g/mol = 2.20 mol

The ratio of carbon to hydrogen is approximately 1:1, which gives us the empirical formula of CH.

User AMarones
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