Determining the Empirical and Molecular Formula of a Hydrocarbon

What is the empirical formula and molecular formula of the hydrocarbon?

Can you calculate the empirical and molecular formulas of the hydrocarbon based on the given data?

Answer:

The empirical formula of the hydrocarbon is CH₂, and the molecular formula is C₃H₆.

The problem at hand requires us to determine the empirical and molecular formulas of a hydrocarbon. We have been provided with the mass of the hydrocarbon, along with the masses of the combustion products CO₂ and H₂O. Additionally, the molar mass of the compound is given as 42.08 g/mol, which will help us calculate its molecular formula.

To find the empirical formula, we first need to determine the mole ratios of the elements in the hydrocarbon by dividing the number of moles of each element by the smallest number of moles obtained. By using the masses of CO₂ and H₂O produced, we can find the number of moles of carbon and hydrogen present in the hydrocarbon.

The mole ratio of carbon to hydrogen is determined to be 1:2, leading us to the empirical formula of CH₂. Moving on to find the molecular formula, we calculate the molecular mass of the empirical formula to be 14.03 g/mol.

Dividing the molar mass of the hydrocarbon by the molecular mass of the empirical formula gives us a factor of 3, indicating that the molecular formula is three times the empirical formula, resulting in C₃H₆.