Answer:
In this case: C₃H₃O
Step-by-step explanation:
The empirical formula shows the ratio between the atoms of a chemical compound. That is, it indicates the elements that are present and the minimum proportion in integers that are between their atoms.
The empirical formula is the simplest expression to represent a chemical compound.
When you have as data the percentage composition by mass (that is, the percentage of the mass that corresponds to each element present in the sample), as in this case, the first step is to divide the percentages of each element by its atomic weight . In this way the number of relative atoms of each chemical element is calculated.
In this case:
C: 65.4÷12.01 = 5.45
H: 5.5÷1.008 = 5.5
O: 29.1÷16.00 = 1.81
The smallest of them is chosen from the results obtained, this being the divisor of all the results, including the same. If there is a result that is decimal, it approaches the whole number.
In this case, the smallest number is 1.81. Then
C: 5.45÷1.81= 3.01 ≅ 3
H: 5.5÷1.81= 3.04 ≅ 3
O: 1.81÷1.81= 1
The results obtained will be the quantities of each element in the empirical formula, that is, they will be the atoms (subscripts) of said element.
In this case: C₃H₃O