Certain alcohol contains only three elements, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. combustion of a 40.00 gram sample of the alcohol produced 76.40 grams of co2 and 46.96 grams of h2o. what is the empirical formula of the alcohol? express your answer as a chemical formula.

The answer to your question is:    C₂H₆O₁   = C₂H₆O

Explanation:

Data

CxHyOz

mass = 40 g  produced 76.40 g of CO2

                                       46.96 g of H2O

Empirical formula = ?

Process

                         CxHyOz    + O2    ⇒    CO2  + H2O

                         44g of CO2  12 g of Carbon

                         76.40 g of CO2 x

                          x = 20.84 g of Carbon

                         12 g of Carbon  1 mol

                         20.84 g of C       x

                         x = (20.84 x 1) / 12

                         x = 1.74 mol of Carbon

                        18 g of H2O  2 g of H

                        46.96 g of H2O   x

                        x = (46.96 x 2) / 18

                        x = 5.22 g of H

                        1 g of H  1 mol of H

                        5.22 g of H   x

                        x = 5.22 mol of H

Mass of Oxygen = 40 - 20.84 - 5.22g

                           = 13.94 g

                         16 g of Oxygen  1 mol

                         13.94 g of O   x

                         x = 0.87 mol of O

Divide by the lowest number of moles

Carbon = 1.74 / 0.87 = 2

Hydrogen = 5.22 / 0.87 = 6

Oxygen = 0.87 / 0.87 = 1

Empirical formula

                                 C₂H₆O₁   = C₂H₆O

every chemical equation adheres to the law of conservation of mass, which states that matter cannot be created or destroyed. therefore, there must be the same number of atoms of each element on each side of a chemical equation.