How do you solve this empirical formula problem?
Me and my friends and the correct answer have different results.
So what is the empirical formula of something that is 43.64% P and 56.36% O?
My calculation would be:
43.64% ~ 43.64g P (1 mol/30.97g P) = 1.388
56.36% ~ 56.36g O (1 mol/16.00g O) = 3.5225
P 1.388/1.388= 1
O 3.5225/1.388 = 2.537 = 3
so PO3 is my answer.
My friend, on the other hand, got P2O5 since she still multiplied 1 and 2.5 with 2 to make them whole numbers.
The correct answer supposedly is P4O10, which is 2 times more than my friend's answer. So which is it and how do you solve it?
Comments
Your friend is correct.
The ratio 1 to 2.537 is closer to 2 to 5 and it is to 1 to 3.
P2O5 is the empirical formula. P4O10 is a molecular formula and could not be calculated using the data your provide in your question. Only the empirical formula can be calculated using your data.
There may be more to the question such as:
"The molecular weight of the compound is 283.9 g/mol. What is the molecular formula?"