A compound consists of 14.6% carbon and 85.4% chlorine by mass. What is its empirical formula?

Explanation:

When calculating an empirical formula from percentages, assume you have a 100g sample. This allows you to convert the percentages directly to grams, because X % of 100g is X grams.

So:

14.6% C = 14.6g C, 85.4%Cl = 85.4g Cl

The next step is to divide each mass by their molar mass to convert your grams to moles.

14.6g/12.01 = 1.22 mol

85.4g/35.45= 2.41 mol

Then you will divide all of your mol values by the SMALLEST number of moles. This gives you whole numbers that are the mole ratio (subscripts) of the empirical formula.

1.22 mol/1.22 mol = 1

2.41 mol/1.22 mol = 2

So the empirical formula is