Question

Use the mass values of each element to determine the empirical formula of the tin oxide compound.

mass of tin: 2.12g
mass of oxygen: 4.5g

Answer 1

@DanJS

Answer 2

sorry, i would have to look it up, been a few years since chem, it is the reduiced formula...need to find the mass ratios i think

Answer 3

is there more than one oxide of tin mayhbe too

Answer 4

i dont think so, otherwise there would be the roman numerals right

Answer 5

yes, here are a couple examples, seems straight forward

Answer 6

https://www.chem.tamu.edu/class/majors/tutorialnotefiles/empirical.htm

Answer 7

what is the formula for the tin oxide?
tin has more than one oxidation state

Answer 8

SnO

SnO2

?

Answer 9

its SnO

Answer 10

also it says tin (II) oxide

Answer 11

right that is what it is if
SnO , since oxygen is -2 ion charge

Answer 12

it just follows example 1 in that link i put above

Answer 13

convert both gram masses to moles of each first...

Answer 14

im not sure how to do that,

Answer 15

do i find it on the periodic table or something ?

Answer 16

Look on the periodic table to find the mass of each element...molecular mass

Answer 17

118.71 u for tin and 15.9994 u ± 0.0004 u for oxygen

Answer 18

that is how many grams of that element are in 1 mole of that element

Answer 19

sounds right, i know oxygen is 16

Answer 20

ok, what to do from here

Answer 21

so convert each to moles by....

Answer 22

notice grams X cancels out, it is on top and bottom

Answer 23

yea

Answer 24

\[\frac{ 2.12g~Sn }{ 1}*\frac{ 1~mol~Sn }{ 118.71g~Sn }~~ \approx~~0.0179~mol~~Sn\]

Answer 25

remember the number from the table, 118.71 gives you the number of grams of tin per 1 mole... the second fraction used

Answer 26

so tins molar mass is 0.0179 mol

Answer 27

yes

Answer 28

no, tins molar mass is 118.71 g / mol (on table)

0.0179 mol tin is the same thing as 2.12 g tin that is given,

just converted grams of tin to moles of tin

Answer 29

in the same way, convert the given grams of oxygen to moles of oxygen

Answer 30

oh ok

Answer 31

about 0.2813

Answer 32

is that correct

Answer 33

I've gotta hit the sack now but we can continue this later, thanks!

Answer 34

yes

Answer 35

follow example 1 in here https://www.chem.tamu.edu/class/majors/tutorialnotefiles/empirical.htm

already converted to moles...only one step left

Answer 36

goodluck

Answer 37

@DanJS ok im back, the last step is the division correct?

Answer 38

oh, yeah i think you just divide by the smallest element value

Answer 39

and we have to do that for each element

Answer 40

0.0179 mol Sn
and
0.2813 mol O

one sec

Answer 41

ok

Answer 42

k

Answer 43

yeah i think you just divide both by the smaller, and they should be near whole numbers

Answer 44

so 16 oxygen and one tin i guess

Answer 45

yeah, 4.5 grams of a gas is a bunch compared to 2.12g of tin

Answer 46

ok, so theres 16 oxygen and 1 tin, how does this relate to the empirical formula of tin oxide

Answer 47

idk, i would look more into it, i just went through it with you and looked it up

Answer 48

Empirical Formula - A formula that gives the simplest whole-number ratio of atoms in a compound.


i'm not very confident in that answer though, it may be right, not sure

Answer 49

SnO16 ...looks strange

Answer 50

i would re-ask the question in a fresh thread and maybe someone can do it for sure

Answer 51

ok thanks for your time

Answer 52

welcome, i remember a few chem things pretty good from the 2 semesters i had to take

Answer 53

empirical formula, not so much, never used again