-YEAR: 4

UNIT 3: Consistently measuring quantity of substances during change-

Stoichiometry
GLOBAL CONTEXT: Globalization and sustainability
EXPLORATION: Human impact on the environment, data driven decision making
Name: Date:

SOI- Evidence obtained during change may help in decision making for the required movement and bring
balance.

LEARNING GOAL – To know what is Empirical formula and molecular formula.

LINE OF INQUIRY - Finding Empirical formula and molecular formula of compounds using the given data.

ATL Skill (s)

 Critical thinking skills: Practice, observing carefully in order to recognize problems; interpret data.
 Transfer skills: use effective learning strategies and apply skills and knowledge in unfamiliar
situations.

LEARNING STATION 2/4 TASK SHEET: EMPIRICAL FORMULA AND MOLECULAR FORMULA

CH/C6H6 HO/H2O2

Look at the two sets of formulae given above and answer the following questions.

 How are the above two sets of formulae different from each other?
 What kind of information do these formulae give us?

Click at the given link to watch a video on Empirical and molecular formula:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmjg7lq4m4o

Define the terms empirical formula and molecular formula.

Finding Empirical and molecular formula:

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A formula found in this way is called the empirical formula. The empirical formula shows the simplest ratio in which
atoms combine.

Solved Example
1. 32 grams of sulfur combine with 32 grams of oxygen to form an oxide of sulfur. What is its empirical formula?

Draw up a table like this:

Elements that combine sulfur oxygen

Masses that combine 32 g 32 g

Relative atomic masses (Ar ) 32 16

Moles of atoms that combine 32 / 32 = 1 32 / 16 = 2

Ratio in which atoms combine 1:2

Empirical formula SO2
So the empirical formula of the oxide that forms is SO2.

Solved Example
2. An experiment shows that compound Y is 80% carbon and 20% hydrogen. What is its empirical formula?

Y is 80% carbon and 20% hydrogen. So 100 g of Y contains 80 g of carbon and 20 g of hydrogen. Draw up a table like
this:
Elements that combine carbon hydrogen

Masses that combine 80 g 20 g

Relative atomic masses (Ar ) 12 1

Moles of atoms that combine 80 / 12 = 6.67 20 / 1 = 20

Ratio in which atoms combine 1:3

Empirical formula CH3

From Empirical to molecular formula:

The formula of an ionic compound is the same as its empirical formula. For example for sodium chloride empirical as well
as molecular formula is NaCl and for magnesium oxide it is MgO.

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The formula of a molecular compound is however mostly different from its empirical formula. Though it can be same for
some compounds. Example for water its empirical as well as molecular formulae is H 2O and for methane it is CH4.

From the drawing you can see that the ratio of carbon to hydrogen atoms in ethane is 2:6. The simplest ratio is therefore
1:3. So the empirical formula of ethane is CH3. But its molecular formula is C2H6.

The molecular formula shows the actual numbers of atoms that combine to form a molecule.

To find the molecular formula:

Mr
i. Calculate for the compound. This gives a number, n.
Empirical formula mass
ii. Multiply the numbers in the empirical formula by n.

Calculating the molecular formula:

Solved Example 1
A molecular compound has the empirical formula HO. Its relative molecular mass is 34. What is its molecular formula?
(Ar : H 5 1, O 5 16.)

For the empirical formula HO, the empirical mass = 17. But Mr = 34.

Mr 34
So = = 2
Empirical formula mass 17

So the molecular formula is 2 x HO, or H2O2.

Solved Example 2
Octane is a hydrocarbon – it contains only carbon and hydrogen. It is 84.2% carbon and 15.8% hydrogen by mass. Its Mr
is 114. What is its molecular formula?

1. First find the empirical formula for the compound.

From the %, we can say that in 100 g of octane, 84.2 g is carbon and 15.8 g is hydrogen.
So 84.2 g of carbon combines with 15.8 g of hydrogen.
Changing masses to moles:
Elements that combine carbon hydrogen

Masses that combine 84.2 g 15.8 g

Relative atomic masses (Ar ) 12 1

Moles of atoms that combine 84.2 / 12 = 7.02 15.8 / 1 = 15.8

Ratio in which atoms combine 1 : 2.25

So the atoms combine in the ratio of 1: 2.25 or 4:9.
Give the ratio as whole numbers, since only whole atoms combine.
The empirical formula of octane is therefore C4H9.

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2. Then use Mr to find the molecular formula.
For the empirical formula (C4H9), the empirical mass = 57.
But Mr = 114.
Mr 114
So = = 2
Empirical formula mass 57

So the molecular formula of octane is 2 x C4H9 or C8H18.

Solve the following questions:

1. 2.476 g of an oxide of copper is found to contain 2.199 g of copper. Determine its empirical formula.

2. The percentage of carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen in an unknown compound is found to be 23.30%, 4.85% and
40.78% respectively. Calculate the empirical formula of the compound.

3. When 15.13 g of Epsom salt, hydrated magnesium sulphate, is heated 7.39 g of anhydrous salt is produced.
Calculate the formula of Epsom salt.

4. 3.40 g of anhydrous calcium sulphate (M =136 g mol-1) is formed when 4.30 g of hydrated calcium sulphate is
heated to constant mass. Calculate how many moles of water of crystallization are combined with each mole of
calcium sulphate.

5. A compound of nitrogen and fluorine contains 42% by mass of nitrogen. If the molar mass of the compound is
about 66 g mol-1, determine its molecular formula.

6. An organic compound which has empirical formula CHO has a relative molecular mass of 232. Determine its
molecular formula.

Referred to: Complete Chemistry for Cambridge IGCSE by RoseMarie Gallagher and Paul Ingram
IBDP Chemistry by John Green and Sadru Damji

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