EMPIRICAL AND MOLECULAR FORMULAE PRACTISE QUESTIONS.
Differentiate between Empirical and molecular formulae.
Empirical formula.....................................................................................................................................................................
Molecular Formulae.................................................................................................................................................................
1. Determine the empirical formula of an oxide of calcium formed when 0.4 g of calcium reacts with 0.16 g of oxygen.
2. (i) Determine the empirical formula of an organic hydrocarbon compound which contains 80% by mass of carbon
and 20% by mass of hydrogen.
(ii) If the 𝑚𝑟 of the compound is 30, what is its molecular formula?
3. Use the following experimental information to determine the empirical formula of an oxide of silicon.
Mass of crucible 18.80g
Mass of crucible + silicon 18.48g
Mass of crucible + oxide of silicon 18.80g
4. (i) Calculate the empirical formula of an organic liquid containing 26.67% of carbon and 2.22% of hydrogen, with the
rest being oxygen.
(ii) The 𝑚𝑟 of the liquid is 90. What is its molecular formula?
5. 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?
6. Determine the empirical formula of an oxide of iron, formed by reacting 2.24 g of iron with 0.96 g of oxygen?
7. A hydrocarbon is 84% carbon, by mass. Its relative molecular mass is 100. Find:
(a) its empirical formula.
(b) its molecular formula.
8. An oxide of phosphorus has an 𝑚𝑟 value of 220. It is 56.4% phosphorus. Find its molecular formula.
9. An organic compound made from sodium azide has the composition by mass: 49.5% carbon, 7.2% hydrogen and
43.3% nitrogen.
Calculate the empirical formula of the organic compound.
10. Ester Y has the following composition by mass:
C, 48.65%; H, 8.11%; O, 43.24%.
(a) Calculate the empirical formula of ester Y.
(b) Ester Z has the empirical formula 𝐶2 𝐻4 𝑂 and a relative molecular mass of 88. Determine the molecular formula
of ester Z.
11. When hydrated magnesium sulfate crystals, 𝑀𝑔𝑆𝑂4 •𝑥𝐻2 𝑂, are heated they give off water.
In an experiment, all the water was removed from 1.23 g of 𝑀𝑔𝑆𝑂4 •𝐻2 𝑂. The mass of 𝑀𝑔𝑆𝑂4 remaining was 0.60
g.
Determine the value of x.
12. Differentiate between Isotopes and allotropes.
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13. Water,𝐻2 0 and ethane, 𝐶2 𝐻6are simple molecular substances. Water has a molecular mass of 18.0g while that of
ethane is 26.0g. Explain why at room temperature, water is a liquid and ethane is a gas despite ethane having a
higher molar mass than water.
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