Question

How do you find the empirical formula of butane? Please show steps.

Answer 1

The molecular formula for butane is C4H10 and empirical formula just means "lowest terms" so you can think of this as reducing since both the carbon and hydrogen are even numbers they can be be reduced by using 2. C, 4/2=2 and H, 10/2=5. Empirical formula is C2H5.

Answer 2

to find an empirical formula you need experimental data, hence "empirical".

Answer 3

thanks