Consider 100.0-g samples of two different compounds consisting only of carbon an

Question

Consider 100.0-g samples of two different compounds consisting only of carbon and oxygen. One compound contains 28.4 g of carbon, and the other has 44.2 g of carbon. How can these data support the law of multiple proportions if 44.2 is not a multiple of 28.4?
Show that these data support the law of multiple proportions.

ratio #1 (compound 1)    (g carbon/g oxygen) ratio #2 (compound 2)     (g carbon/g oxygen) ratio #2 / ratio #1    
Consider 100.0-g samples of two different compounds consisting only of carbon and oxygen. One compound contains 28.4 g of carbon, and the other has 44.2 g of carbon. How can these data support the law of multiple proportions if 44.2 is not a multiple of 28.4? Show that these data support the law of multiple proportions.

Explanation / Answer

the mass of carbon comes from billions and billions of carbon atoms, a shorthand for this amount is the mole, a mol of C has a mass of 12 g and a mol of O has a mass of 16 g

The first has 28.4 g C and 100 - 28.4 = 71.6 g O
28.4/12 = 2.367 mol C and 71.6/16 = 4.475 mol O
2.367/2.367 = 1 and 4.475/2.367 = 1.89 ~ 2
The empirical formula is CO2

The second has 44.2 g C and 55.8 g O
44.2/12 = 3.683 mol C and 55.8/16 = 3.4875 mol O
3.683/3.4875 = 1.056 ~ 1 and 3.4875/3.4875 = 1
The empirical formula is CO

So carbon and oxygen combine to form 2 different compounds in small whole numbers

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