Review Answers

Percent Composition:
1. What is the formula for calculating percent composition?
The formula is % by mass = mass of element/mass of compound x 100.

2. What information do you need to calculate percent composition by mass?

We need to know the mass of the compound and the mass of the element.

3. What do subscripts in a chemical formula tell you?

Nos indican la cantidad de átomos de un elemento

Empirical Formula:
1. What is an empirical formula?
A formula giving the proportions of the elements present in a compound but not in
the actual number of atoms
2. What does an empirical formula tell you?
Shows us lowest whole-number ratio of the elements in a compound
3. What does it not tell you?
They do not provide information about the absolute number of atoms in a
compound
Molecular Formula:
1. What is the difference between an empirical formula and a molecular
formula?
The empirical formula shows me the simplest whole number while molecular
formula shows me the real or actual whole number
2. In addition to the elemental analysis, what do you need to know to calculate
the molecular formula?
- molar mass
- divide the molar mass by the empirical formula
- multiply all the subscripts in the empirical formula by the whole number
3. What does the empirical formula mass tell you?
The sum of atomic masses of the elements present in the empirical formula