1.An acid was analysed and found to contain 2.44% hydrogen,39.02% sulphur and 58.54% oxygen.find imperical formular of the Acid?

1 Answer
Shulgin
May 23, 2018

Sulfurous acid
H_2 SO_3

Explanation:

You can use one of the percentages you have listed to find the total molecular mass.
E.g. using sulfur we get

(M_S)/x = 0.39

solve for x and you get the total molar mass as:

M_(t o t a l) = 82.079

To get how many sulfur, oxygen and hydrogen we do as following:
E.g. for oxygen we get:
(x*15.99)/(82.079) = 0.58 x -> 3

which means that there are three oxygens.
now you can subtract the molecular mass of the M_(t o t a l) and see how many hydrogens you will need.

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