What is the empirical formula of a phosphoric acid that contains 0.3086 g of hydrogen, 3.161 g of phosphorus, and 6.531 g of oxygen?

Answer 1

#H_2# # P_4# #O_1#

In order to calculate the Empirical formula , we will assume that we have started with 10 g of the compound. On decomposition , we obtained 0.3086 g of Hydrogen , 3.161 g of Phosphorus, and 6.531 g of Oxygen.

Step 1 Calculating the number of moles of different elements

#n_##H#= mass of H/ molar mass of H

#n_##H #= 0.3086 g / 1 g #mol^(-1)#

#n_##H#= 0.3086 mol

#n_#P## = mass of P/ molar mass of P

#n_#P#= 3.161 g / 31 g #mol^(-1)#

#n_##P#= 1.02 mole

#n_##O# = mass of O / molar mass of O

#n_##O#= 6.531 g / 32 g #mol^(-1)#

#n_##O#= 0.2 mol

Calculating the Simple Ratio of the moles

H= 0.3806/ 0.2 =4 , P = 1.02 / 0.2 =5 , O= 0.2/0.2 =1

#H_2# # P_4# #O_1#

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Answer 2

Caleb Adams

To find the empirical formula of phosphoric acid, we first need to determine the number of moles of each element present in the compound.

Calculate the number of moles of hydrogen (H): Moles of H = mass of H / molar mass of H = 0.3086 g / 1.008 g/mol ≈ 0.3061 mol
Calculate the number of moles of phosphorus (P): Moles of P = mass of P / molar mass of P = 3.161 g / 30.974 g/mol ≈ 0.102 mol
Calculate the number of moles of oxygen (O): Moles of O = mass of O / molar mass of O = 6.531 g / 15.999 g/mol ≈ 0.4082 mol
Determine the ratio of each element's moles to the smallest number of moles (which is for phosphorus in this case): Ratio of H = 0.3061 mol / 0.102 mol ≈ 3 Ratio of P = 0

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Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.