Complete combustion of 5.90 g of a hydrocarbon produced 18.8 g of co2 and 6.75 g of h2o.
what is the empirical formula for the hydrocarbon?

The empirical formula for the hydrocarbon is

Explanation:

The chemical equation for the combustion of hydrocarbon having carbon and hydrogen follows:

where, 'x', 'y' and 'z' are the subscripts of Carbon, hydrogen and oxygen respectively.

We are given:

Mass of

Mass of

We know that:

Molar mass of carbon dioxide = 44 g/mol

Molar mass of water = 18 g/mol

In 44g of carbon dioxide, 12 g of carbon is contained.

So, in 18.8 g of carbon dioxide, of carbon will be contained.

In 18g of water, 2 g of hydrogen is contained.

So, in 6.75 g of water, of hydrogen will be contained.

To formulate the empirical formula, we need to follow some steps:

Moles of Carbon =

Moles of Hydrogen =

For the mole ratio, we divide each value of the moles by the smallest number of moles calculated which is 0.426 moles.

For Carbon =

For Hydrogen =

The ratio of C : H = 1 : 2

Hence, the empirical formula for the given hydrocarbon is

the answer is 1 i believe