Empirical/molecular formula problems using the ideal gas law and density of a gas
Cyclopropane, a gas once used with oxygen as a general anesthetic, is composed of 85.7% carbon and 14.3% hydrogen by mass. Find the empirical formula. If 1.56 g of cyclopropane occupies a volume of 1.00 L at 0.984 atm and 50 °C, what is the molecular formula for cyclopropane?
Solution
Strategy: First solve the empirical formula problem using methods discussed earlier. Assume 100 g and convert the percentage of each element into grams. Determine the number of moles of carbon and hydrogen in the 100-g sample of cyclopropane. Divide by the smallest number of moles to relate the number of moles of carbon to the number of moles of hydrogen. In the last step, realize that the smallest whole number ratio is the empirical formula:
Empirical formula is CH
2 [empirical mass (EM) of 14.03 g/empirical unit].
Next, use the density equation related to the ideal gas law to determine the molar mass:
ℳ = 42.0 g/mol,
so (3)(CH
2 ) = C
3 H
6 (molecular formula)
Check your learning
Acetylene, a fuel used welding torches, is comprised of 92.3% C and 7.7% H by mass. Find the empirical formula. If 1.10 g of acetylene occupies of volume of 1.00 L at 1.15 atm and 59.5 °C, what is the molecular formula for acetylene?
Another useful application of the ideal gas law involves the determination of molar mass. By definition, the molar mass of a substance is the ratio of its mass in grams,
m , to its amount in moles,
n :
The ideal gas equation can be rearranged to isolate
n :
and then combined with the molar mass equation to yield:
This equation can be used to derive the molar mass of a gas from measurements of its pressure, volume, temperature, and mass.
Determining the molar mass of a volatile liquid
The approximate molar mass of a volatile liquid can be determined by:
Heating a sample of the liquid in a flask with a tiny hole at the top, which converts the liquid into gas that may escape through the hole
Removing the flask from heat at the instant when the last bit of liquid becomes gas, at which time the flask will be filled with only gaseous sample at ambient pressure
Sealing the flask and permitting the gaseous sample to condense to liquid, and then weighing the flask to determine the sample’s mass (see
[link] )
Using this procedure, a sample of chloroform gas weighing 0.494 g is collected in a flask with a volume of 129 cm
3 at 99.6 °C when the atmospheric pressure is 742.1 mm Hg. What is the approximate molar mass of chloroform?
Solution
Since
and
substituting and rearranging gives
then
Check your learning
A sample of phosphorus that weighs 3.243
10
−2 g exerts a pressure of 31.89 kPa in a 56.0-mL bulb at 550 °C. What are the molar mass and molecular formula of phosphorus vapor?
Step 1: Find the mean. To find the mean, add up all the scores, then divide them by the number of scores. ...
Step 2: Find each score's deviation from the mean. ...
Step 3: Square each deviation from the mean. ...
Step 4: Find the sum of squares. ...
Step 5: Divide the sum of squares by n – 1 or N.
The sample of 16 students is taken. The average age in the sample was 22 years with astandard deviation of 6 years. Construct a 95% confidence interval for the age of the population.
Bhartdarshan' is an internet-based travel agency wherein customer can see videos of the cities they plant to visit. The number of hits daily is a normally distributed random variable with a mean of 10,000 and a standard deviation of 2,400
a. what is the probability of getting more than 12,000 hits?
b. what is the probability of getting fewer than 9,000 hits?
Bhartdarshan'is an internet-based travel agency wherein customer can see videos of the cities they plan to visit. The number of hits daily is a normally distributed random variable with a mean of 10,000 and a standard deviation of 2,400.
a. What is the probability of getting more than 12,000 hits