Question

A student doing this experiment accidently spilled some of the previously measured copper chloride solution on his hands. he didn't bother to measure the new volume of the solution. briefly explain how this spill would affect the student's determination of the empirical formula of this sample.

Answer 1

The number of moles of the chemical constituents will be less than the actual amount.

Step-by-step explanation:

In calculating empirical formula, we begin with the number of grams of each element, given in the problem.

Given that the spill will affect the mass concentration of the copper chloride solution, calculations to determine the molecular formula (using Molarity = mass conc ÷ molecular mass ) would give a lesser result, which would in turn lower the number of moles of the copper and chloride in the empirical formula calculation.