Finding formulas of compounds

When 1 try to determine the empirical formula of a compound, 1 often have percentage data available. The determination of the percentage composition is one of the first analyses that a chemist does in leeirning about a new compound. Here s how to find an empirical formula using moles and the percentages of each element  

Assume you have 100 grams of the compound so you can use the percentages as weights then convert the weight of each element to moles. 

For example, suppose you determine that a particular compound has the following weight percentage of elements present 26.4 percent Na, 36.8 percent S, and 36.8 percent 0. Because you re dealing with percentage data (amount per hundred), assume that you have 100 grams of the compound so you can write the 

Write the empirical formula, changing subscripts to whole numbers if necessary. 

Now you can write an empirical formula of Naj jjSj 15O230. Your subscripts have to be whole numbers, so divide each of these by the smallest, 1.15, to get NaS02. (If a subscript is 1, it s not shown.) 

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