What is the molecular formula of the C3H5O2, if the gram molecular mass is 146 g/mol?

1 Answer
Aug 29, 2017

We gots an empirical formula.......and we use this to determine a molecular formula of C6H10O4.

Explanation:

We gots an empirical formula of C3H5O2 OF WHICH THE MOLECULAR FORMULA IS A SIMPLE WHOLE NUMBER MULTIPLE.

Why the shouting? Because I want to emphasize that the molecular formula may be represented as {C3H5O2}n.

And thus .............................

146gmol1n×{3×12.011+5×1.00794+2×16.00}gmol1

And so n=146gmol173.0gmol1

And clearly n=2............

And thus our molecular formula=2×C3H5O2=C6H10O4.