Combustion analysis of toluene, a common organic solvent, gives 5.86 mg of co2 and 1.37 mg of h2o. if the compound contains only carbon and hydrogen, what is its empirical formula?

The empirical formula for the given organic compound is

Explanation:

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

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

We are given:

Mass of    (Conversion factor:  1 g = 1000 mg)

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 of carbon dioxide, of carbon will be contained.

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

So, in 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

For Carbon =

For Hydrogen =

The ratio of C : H = 1 : 1

Hence, the empirical formula for the given compound is

the answer to this question is 3.