Final answer:
To find the empirical formula for a compound with 0.15 moles of carbon and 0.60 moles of hydrogen, you divide the moles of each by the smallest number of moles, resulting in a simple ratio and the empirical formula CH4.
Step-by-step explanation:
To determine the empirical formula of a compound based on the moles of its elements, one must compare the number of moles of each element in the compound. For a compound with 0.15 moles of carbon and 0.60 moles of hydrogen, we first look for the smallest number of moles, which is carbon in this case. To find the simplest whole-number ratio, we divide the number of moles of each element by the smallest mole value.
For carbon: 0.15 moles ÷ 0.15 = 1
For hydrogen: 0.60 moles ÷ 0.15 = 4
The ratios provide us with the subscripts for the atoms in the empirical formula, which is CH4.
To find the empirical formula, we need to determine the simplest, whole-number ratio of atoms in the compound. In this case, we have 0.15 moles of carbon and 0.60 moles of hydrogen. We need to divide these numbers by the smallest mole amount, which is 0.15 moles of carbon.
Dividing 0.15 moles of carbon by 0.15 gives us a ratio of 1 carbon atom.
Dividing 0.60 moles of hydrogen by 0.15 gives us a ratio of 4 hydrogen atoms.
Thus, the empirical formula of the compound is C1H4.