What is the formula weight of methane?

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Answer 1 · 2018-01-16T21:45:35

16#gmol^-1#
Though we call this relative formula MASS not weight

First we need to know Methanes molecular formula.

#CH_4#

This means one molecule of methane contains one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms.

If we look at the periodic table of elements, we can see that the relative atomic mass of carbon is 12 and hydrogen 1.

The formula mass of a molecule is the total of all relative atomic masses for each atom added together.

So in this case;

C = 12#gmol^-1#
H = 1 ( x 4 as we have 4 hydrogen atoms) = 4#gmol^-1#

(12 + 4)

16#gmol^-1#