Oxalic acid is 26.68% carbon, 2.24% hydrogen, and the remainder oxygen, what is its empirical formula?

1 Answer
anor277
Oct 30, 2015

CHO_2 is the empirical formula for oxalic acid.

Explanation:

Assume 100 g of acid. Breaking it down into its components, there are (26.68*g)/(12.01 *g*mol^-1*C); (2.24*g)/(1.00794 *g *mol^-1*H); (71.08*g)/(16.00*g*mol^(-1)*O) = C:H:O = 2.22:2.22:4.44 = 1:1:2.

Therefore, empirical formula of oxalic acid is CHO_2. If its molecular mass is 90.03*g*mol^-1, what is its molecular formula?

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