Final answer:
To find the mass of sulfur in a sample of CaSO4, subtract the masses of calcium and oxygen from the mass of CaSO4.
Step-by-step explanation:
To find the mass of sulfur in a sample of CaSO4 with a mass of 86.3g, we need to use the given information about the mass of calcium and oxygen in the sample. First, we calculate the mass of sulfur in the given 23.7g sample of CaSO4. Since the molar mass of calcium is 40.08 g/mol, and the molar mass of oxygen is 16.00 g/mol, we can calculate the mass of sulfur by subtracting the masses of calcium and oxygen from the mass of CaSO4.
In the 23.7g sample, we have 6.98g of calcium and 11.1g of oxygen. Therefore, the mass of sulfur can be calculated as follows:
Mass of sulfur = Mass of CaSO4 - Mass of calcium - Mass of oxygen
Mass of sulfur = 23.7g - 6.98g - 11.1g
Mass of sulfur = 5.62g