Question

What is the percentage of nitrogen in N2O? Show all calculations leading to an answer. Help

Answer 1

N2O

You must make sure that you first count the #atoms for each element in your formula.

The elements we have
N
O

Now there are 2 nitrogens and one Oxygen

N =2
O = 1

We need the molar mass of each because we need to multiply the number of atoms by the molar mass.

N = 14g/mol x 2 atoms = 28 g
O = 16g/mol x 1 atom = 16

Assume now that one mole of the sample contains 28g of nitrogen and 16 grams of oxygen. What we do now is add the total

28+16 = 44g in N2O

This is like any percent composition formula we take the number of grams of N and put it over the total:

We have 28 grams of N
Our total is 44 grams of N2O

It becomes 28/44% of N
And 16/44 % for N2O