Question

methyl salicylate, or oil of winter green, is produced by the winter green plant. it can also be prepared easily in a laboratory. methyl salicylate is 63.1% carbon,5.31% hydrogen and 31.6% oxygen. calculate the empirical formula of methy salicylate.

Answer 1

To determine the empirical formula of methyl salicylate, percentages are converted to moles, which are then used to find the smallest whole-number ratio of atoms, resulting in the empirical formula C3H3O.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the empirical formula of methyl salicylate, we begin by assuming a 100 g sample. This makes it easy to convert the percentages to grams, which directly gives us the masses of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen:

• Carbon: 63.1% of 100 g = 63.1 g
• Hydrogen: 5.31% of 100 g = 5.31 g
• Oxygen: 31.6% of 100 g = 31.6 g

Next, we convert the masses to moles using the molar masses of the elements (C = 12 g/mol, H = 1 g/mol, O = 16 g/mol).

• Carbon: 63.1 g C / 12 g/mol = 5.258 moles C
• Hydrogen: 5.31 g H / 1 g/mol = 5.31 moles H
• Oxygen: 31.6 g O / 16 g/mol = 1.975 moles O

To find the simplest whole-number ratio, we divide the moles of each element by the smallest number of moles calculated:

• Carbon: 5.258 mol / 1.975 mol = 2.66 ≈ 3
• Hydrogen: 5.31 mol / 1.975 mol = 2.69 ≈ 3
• Oxygen: 1.975 mol / 1.975 mol = 1

After rounding, we see the ratio of C:H:O is approximately 3:3:1, which suggests the empirical formula is C3H3O.