I'm running short on time..thanks for helping me!

A water sample drawn from a lake is suspected of containing an organic pollutant. Combustion analysis of a 5.00g sample of the pollutant in excess O2 produced 10.0 g of CO2 and 4.09 of H2O. Next, mass spectrometry showed that the molar mass is between 80 - 100 g/mole.

b. assuming this pollutant is composed only of C,H, and O, describe in detail how you would determine the empirical formula of the compound.

c. explain how you would use the mass spectrometry data to determine the chemical formula of the comound
thank you so much!

Question

I'm running short on time..thanks for helping me!

A water sample drawn from a lake is suspected of containing an organic pollutant. Combustion analysis of a 5.00g sample of the pollutant in excess O2 produced 10.0 g of CO2 and 4.09 of H2O. Next, mass spectrometry showed that the molar mass is between 80 - 100 g/mole.

b. assuming this pollutant is composed only of C,H, and O, describe in detail how you would determine the empirical formula of the compound.

c. explain how you would use the mass spectrometry data to determine the chemical formula of the comound
thank you so much!

aaronq · Answer

b) write a formula z CxHy + O2 -> CO2 + H2O (not balanced) convert all the masses to moles and see how they're related to figure out the coefficients c) This website explains well basics of mass spectrometry: http://www.chemguide.co.uk/analysis/masspec/howitworks.html

anonymous · Answer

I don't understand?

aaronq · Answer

z CxHy + O2 -> CO2 + H2O

                          10 g        4.09 g

convert those to moles and try to balance the question

aaronq · Answer

equation**