Question

Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, is composed of 40.9 percent carbon, 4.6 percent hydrogen, and 54.5 percent oxygen. The molar mass of ascorbic acid is approximately 176 grams per mole. What is the molecular formula of ascorbic acid

Answer 1

Start the calculations by multiplying the molecular mass by 40.9 percent to give the mass of carbon, then do the same for hydrogen (176 x 0.049) and oxygen (176x .545). Then divide each value by the atomic mass for each (12, 1 and 16 respectively for carbon, hydrogen and oxygen). this should give almost exactly integer values for the numbers of each atom in the molecule.

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