Question

Find the empirical formula of 59.3% Sr, 8.2% C, 32.5% O

Answer 1

CO₃Sr

Procedure

1. Find the molar mass of each component (using the periodic table):

C=12.0107, O=15.9994, Sr=87.62

2. Convert to moles: C=0.6827, O=2.0313, Sr=0.6768

3. Find smallest mole value: 0.6768, which belongs to strontium (Sr).

4. Divide all components by the smallest value: C=1.0088, O=3.0014, Sr=1

5. As we cannot have parts of an atom we will round to the closest whole numbers:

C=1, O=3, Sr=1

6. Combine to get the empirical formula: CO₃Sr