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what is the molecular formula for a compound that is 33.38% sulfur and 66.62% oxygen and has a molar mass of 192.14g

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Final answer:

The empirical formula of the compound is SO4. The molecular formula is (SO4)2 or SO8.

Step-by-step explanation:

The empirical formula of a compound can be determined using the percent compositions of the elements and their molar masses. In this case, the compound contains 33.38% sulfur and 66.62% oxygen, with a molar mass of 192.14g. To find the molecular formula, we need to determine the empirical formula first.

Let's assume we have 100g of the compound. From the percent compositions, we can calculate that we have 33.38g of sulfur and 66.62g of oxygen. Converting these masses to moles using the molar masses of sulfur (32g/mol) and oxygen (16g/mol), we find that we have 1.044 mol of sulfur and 4.165 mol of oxygen.

Simplifying the ratios by dividing both values by the smallest value (1.044), we get an empirical formula of SO4. To get the molecular formula, we need to determine the number of SO4 units in the compound.

To do this, we divide the molar mass of the compound (192.14g) by the molar mass of the empirical formula (96.06g). The result is 2, so the molecular formula of the compound is (SO4)2 or SO8.

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