Final answer:
Combustion analysis is used to determine the elemental composition of a compound by burning it and analyzing the resulting gases. In this case, the mass of oxygen in a compound is calculated by subtracting the mass of carbon and hydrogen in their respective products from the mass of the original compound. This can be done using the known molar masses of carbon and hydrogen and the masses of CO2 and H2O collected during combustion analysis.
Step-by-step explanation:
During combustion analysis, a compound containing carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen is burned, converting all of the carbon to CO2 and the hydrogen to H2O. By measuring the masses of CO2 and H2O produced, and using the molar masses of carbon and hydrogen, we can calculate the masses of carbon and hydrogen in the original compound. From there, we can subtract the mass of carbon in the CO2 and the mass of hydrogen in the H2O to find the mass of oxygen in the original compound.