Final answer:
The process of determining a chemical formula from experimental data involves measuring the masses of the constituent elements, converting the masses into moles, computing whole-number ratios, and deriving the empirical formula of the substance.
Step-by-step explanation:
The process of determining a chemical formula from experimental data involves several steps. First, the masses of the constituent elements are measured. Then, these masses are converted into the number of moles using the molar masses of the elements. Next, the molar amounts are used to compute whole-number ratios, which are used to derive the empirical formula of the substance. This involves dividing each element's molar amount by the smallest molar amount to get subscripts for a tentative empirical formula. Finally, all coefficients may need to be multiplied by an integer to obtain the smallest whole-number ratio of subscripts.