Formula percentage composition from

Calculating Percentage Composition from a Chemical Formula... 

When determining the percentage composition by mass of a homogeneous sample, the size of the sample does not matter. According to the law of definite proportions, there is a fixed proportion of each element in the compound, no matter how much of the compound you have. This means that you can choose a convenient sample size when calculating percentage composition from a formula. 

REVERSE CALCULATIONS PERCENTAGE COMPOSITION FROM FORMULA... 

If you know the chemical formula of any compound, then you can calculate the percentage composition. From the subscripts, you can determine the mass contributed by each element and add these to get the molar mass. Then, divide the mass of each element by the molar mass. Multiply by 100 to find the percentage composition of that element. 

To obtain the molecular formula of a substance, you need two pieces of information (1) as in the previous section, the percentage composition, from which the empirical formula can be determined and (2) the molecular weight The molecular weight allows you to choose the correct multiple of the empirical formula for the molecular formula. We will illustrate these steps in the next three examples. 

Calculating the percentage composition from the formula Given the formula of a compound, calculate the mass percentages of the elements in it. (EXAMPLE 3.7)... 

When a new substance is synthesized or is discovered, it is analyzed quantitatively to reveal its percentage composition. From these data, the empirical formula is then determined. An empirical formula consists of the symbols for the elements combined in a compound, with subscripts showing the smallest whole-number mole ratio of the different atoms in the compound. For an ionic compound, the formula unit is usually the compound s empirical formula. For a molecular compound, however, the empirical formula does not necessarily indicate the actual numbers of atoms present in each molecule. For example, the empirical formula of the gas diborane is BHg, but the molecular formula is BgHg. In this case, the number of atoms given by the molecular formula corresponds to the empirical ratio multiplied by two. 

A.4 (a) To calculate the percentage composition from the molecular formula, first determine the weight of each element in 1 mol of the compound. For C6H12O6,... 

If the chemical formula of a compound is already known, its mass percentage composition can be obtained from the formula. 

To convert the mass percentage composition obtained from a combustion analysis into an empirical formula, we must convert the mass percentages of each type of atom into the relative numbers of atoms. The simplest procedure is to imagine that we have a sample of mass 100 g exactly. That way, the mass percentage... 

EXAMPLE F.2 Determining the empirical formula from mass percentage composition... 

The empirical formula of a compound is determined from the mass percentage composition and the molar masses of the elements present. 

F.14 Paclitaxel, which is extracted from the Pacific yew tree Taxus brevifolia, has antitumor activity for ovarian and breast cancer. It is sold under the trade name Taxol. On analysis, its mass percentage composition is 66.11% C, 6.02% H, and 1.64% N, with the balance being oxygen. What is the empirical formula of paclitaxel ... 

J.9 You are asked to identify compound X, which was extracted from a plant seized by customs inspectors. You run a number of tests and collect the following data. Compound X is a white, crystalline solid. An aqueous solution of X turns litmus red and conducts electricity poorly, even when X is present at appreciable concentrations. When you add sodium hydroxide to the solution a reaction takes place. A solution of the products of the reaction conducts electricity well. An elemental analysis of X shows that the mass percentage composition of the compound is 26.68% C and 2.239% H, with the remainder being oxygen. A mass spectrum of X yields a molar mass of 90.0 g-moF. (a) Write the empirical formula of X. (b) Write... 

Empirical formulae may also be calculated from percentage composition by mass in a similar way. 

In the problem above, we determined the percentage data from the chemical formula. We can determine the empirical formula if we know the percent compositions of the various elements. The empirical formula tells us what elements are present in the compound and the simplest whole-number ratio of elements. The data may be in terms of percentage, or mass or even moles. However, the procedure is still the same—convert each element to moles, divide each by the smallest, and then use an appropriate multiplier if necessary. We can then determine the empirical formula mass. If we know the actual molecular mass, dividing the molecular formula mass by the empirical formula mass, gives an integer (rounded if needed) that we can multiply each of the subscripts in the empirical formula. This gives the molecular (actual) formula, which tells what elements are in the compound and the actual number of each. 

After we receive the results of a combustion analysis from the laboratory, we need to convert the mass percentage composition to an empirical formula. For this step, we need to determine the relative number of moles of each type of atom. The simplest procedure is to imagine that we have a sample of mass 100 g exactly. That way, the mass percentage composition tells us the mass in grams of each element. Then we can use the molar mass of each element to convert these masses into moles and go on to find the relative numbers of moles of each type of atom. Let s do that for vitamin C, which was once identified in this way, and suppose that the laboratory has reported that the sample you supplied is 40.9% carbon, 4.58% hydrogen, and 54.5% oxygen. 

Calculate the empirical formula of a compound from its mass percentage composition, Self-Test F.3. 

F.3 Determine the chemical formulas from the following analyses, (a) The mass percentage composition of cryolite, a compound used in the production of aluminum, is 32.79% Na, 13.02% Al, and 54.19% F. 

The approximate molar mass, calculated from the gas density data, is 89 g/mol. The empirical formula, calculated from the percentage composition data, is C2H3O with the empirical formula unit mass of 43.0. The exact molar mass must be (2)(43) = 86.0 g/mol since this is the only multiple of 43.0 (whole-number multiple) reasonably close to the approximate molecular formula of 89 g/mol. The molecule must be the equivalent of 2 empirical formulas CqHgO. 

Answer A is the fractional representation of the presence of each atom in the formula. Composition is based on mass percentage. Answer C is the chemical composition of Mg(N02)2, magnesium nitrite. Answer D is the chemical composition of "MgNCh", a formula that results from not balancing charges. 

Answer The first step is to calculate the empirical formula. To begin, we need to determine the number of moles of each element. However, the percentage composition does not tell us a mass. To get around this, the commonly used technique is to assume that you have a 100.0-gram sample of the substance. Because 100.0 grams is equal to 100%, you can simply take the percentages and say that the masses are equal to that same amount in grams. From there, the problem proceeds just like the previous example ... 

If 1.00 g of the unknown contains 0.817 g carbon, the mass percent of carbon is 81.7 percent, leaving the remaining 18.3 percent as hydrogen. Therefore, we need to use the procedures for determining an empirical formula from a percentage composition. The problem will progress as follows (remember with percents, assume a 100 g sample) ... 

In the previous Practice Problems, you used mass data to calculate percentage composition. This skill is useful for interpreting experimental data when the chemical formula is unknown. Often, however, the percentage composition is calculated from a known chemical formula. This is useful when you are interested in extracting a certain element from a compound. For example, many metals, such as iron and mercury, exist in mineral form. Mercury is most often found in nature as mercury(II) sulfide, HgS. Knowing the percentage composition of HgS helps a metallurgist predict the mass of mercury that can be extracted from a sample of HgS. 

Sometimes there are more than two elements in a compound, or more than one atom of each element. This makes determining percentage composition more complex than in the example above. Work through the Sample Problem below to learn how to calculate the percentage composition of a compound from its molecular formula. 

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