The characteristic odor of pineapple is due to ethyl butyrate, a compound containing carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. combustion of 1.67 mg of ethyl butyrate produces 3.79 mg of co2 and 1.55 mg of h2o. what is the empirical formula of the compound? express your answer as a chemical formula.

Empirical formula is C3H6O First, calculate the molar masses of CO2 and H2O Carbon = 12.0107 Hydrogen = 1.00794 Oxygen = 15.999 CO2 = 12.0107 + 2*15.999 = 44.0087 H2O = 2 * 1.00794 + 15.999 = 18.01488 Now calculate the number of moles of CO2 and H2O we have by dividing the mass by the molar mass CO2 = 3.79 / 44.0087 = 0.086119 H2O = 1.55 / 18.01488 = 0.08604 Since there's 2 hydrogen atoms per water molecule, multiply by 2 H = 0.08604 * 2 = 0.17208 Now some of the oxygen that's present in the CO2 and H2O products came from the ethyl butyrate. Let's determine how much by subtracting the mass of the carbon and hydrogen from the mass of the ethyl butyrate. 1.67 - 0.086119 * 12.0107 - 0.17208 * 1.00794 = 0.462204 And the relative number of moles of oxygen is 0.462204 / 15.999 = 0.02889 So we now know the relative ratios of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. They are Carbon = 0.086119 Hydrogen = 0.17208 Oxygen = 0.02889 What we need to do is find some small integers that have the same approximate ratio as 0.086119 : 0.17208 : 0.02889 Dividing all three values by 0.02889 (selected that because it was the smallest value), gives 2.980928 : 5.956386 : 1 as the new target ratios. And 2.980928 is extremely close to 3, and 5.956386 is also extremely close to 6. So it looks like the ratio for the empirical formula is 3:6:1 which would be C3H6O