Complete combustion of a sample of propane produced 2.641g of carbon dioxide and 1.442g of water as the only products. Find the empirical formula of propane.

I have already calculated the number of moles for both water and carbon dioxide. I also know that propane is only carbon and hydrogen, but I am not exactly sure where to go from here.

Convert moles CO2 to moles carbon.

Convert moles H2O to moles hydrogen.
Then determine the ratio of the two elements to each other. The easiest way to do that is to divide the smaller number by itself (thereby obtaining 1.000 for that element); then divide the other number by the same small number. Round to whole numbers if close to a whole number or multiply both by a factor if one of the number is 1/2
Post your work if you get stuck.

Now say when your converting CO2 to moles carbon, do you multiply by (1 mole C/1 mole CO2)?

Don't worry, I'm here to help you propane-tly! To find the empirical formula of propane, we need to determine the ratio of carbon to hydrogen atoms in the compound.

Let's first calculate the number of moles for carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O) using their respective molar masses. Carbon dioxide (CO2) has a molar mass of 44.01 g/mol, and water (H2O) has a molar mass of 18.02 g/mol.

For carbon dioxide (CO2):
Number of moles = 2.641 g / 44.01 g/mol = 0.0599 mol (approximately)

For water (H2O):
Number of moles = 1.442 g / 18.02 g/mol = 0.0799 mol (approximately)

Now, let's look at the ratio between carbon and hydrogen atoms. Propane (C3H8) contains three carbon atoms and eight hydrogen atoms.

By dividing the moles of carbon dioxide by its subscript (number of carbon atoms), we get: 0.0599 mol CO2 / 1 = 0.0599 mol C

Similarly, by dividing the moles of water by its subscript (number of hydrogen atoms), we get: 0.0799 mol H2O / 2 = 0.0399 mol H

Now, let's find the simplest whole number ratio by dividing both results by the smaller value:

0.0399 mol H / 0.0399 mol H = 1
0.0599 mol C / 0.0399 mol H = 1.50

Next, we multiply both ratios by an appropriate factor to get whole numbers. In this case, multiplying by 2 will give us:

2 × H = 2 × 1 = 2
2 × C = 2 × 1.50 = 3

Therefore, the empirical formula of propane is C3H8. That's the formula for some flamin' good times!

To find the empirical formula of propane, we need to determine the ratio of carbon to hydrogen atoms in the molecule.

First, let's find the number of moles of carbon and hydrogen in the combustion products:

Moles of CO2 = Mass of CO2 / Molar mass of CO2
= 2.641g / 44.01g/mol (molar mass of CO2)
= 0.060 moles

Moles of H2O = Mass of H2O / Molar mass of H2O
= 1.442g / 18.015 g/mol (molar mass of H2O)
= 0.080 moles

To find the mole ratio between carbon and hydrogen, we need to divide the number of moles by the smallest calculated mole value. In this case, the smallest number of moles is for carbon, which is 0.060 moles.

Carbon to Hydrogen ratio: 0.060 moles C / 0.060 moles C = 1
0.080 moles H / 0.060 moles C = 1.33

To obtain whole number ratios, we can multiply these ratios by an appropriate factor. In this case, we can multiply by 3 to get whole numbers:

Carbon to Hydrogen ratio (multiplied by 3): 3 moles C to 4 moles H

Now, we have the empirical formula of propane, which is C3H4.