15.969 g of a hydrocarbon is combusted fully to form carbon dioxide and water. If the reaction produces 44.082 g of carbon dioxide and its m...
15.969 g of a hydrocarbon is combusted fully to form carbon dioxide and water. If the reaction produces 44.082 g of carbon dioxide and its mole ratio with the hydrocarbon is 1:1, determine the molecular weight of the empirical formula of the hydrocarbon.
Need to know
Hydrocarbon combustion refers to the chemical reaction where a hydrocarbon reacts with oxygen to create carbon dioxide, water, and heat. Hydrocarbons are molecules consisting of both hydrogen and carbon only.
CxHy +O2 ➞ CO2 + H2O
CxHy is the hydrocarbon. However, the problem does not specify the chemical formula of the hydrocarbon. Therefore, the subscripts of carbon (x) and hydrogen (y) are unknown.
The carbon atom can have a maximum of 4 bonds.
Strategy
grams of CO2 ➡ moles of CO2 ➡ moles of CxHy ➡ molecular weight of the molecular formula ➡ analyze
Once the molecular weight is calculated, you need to estimate how many carbon and hydrogen atoms are needed to fit the molecular weight. Take into consideration that carbon can only have 4 bonds.
Then, simplify the molecular formula to get the empirical formula and calculate its molecular weight.
