A mole of carbon dioxide (CO2) has 12.0 grams of carbon (C) and 32.0 grams of oxygen (O). What is the percent composition of carbon in carbon dioxide?

Question

hlilly2413 · Answer

Step 1: Find the molar mass of CO2. To do that: Molar Mass $$CO _{2}$$ = 1(mass of 1 carbon atom found on the periodic table) + 2(mass of one oxygen atom from the periodic table). 
Step 2: to find the percentage of carbon in CO2 you would do: $$\frac{ 1 \times mass of 1 carbon atom from periodic table }{ Molar Mass of CO2 } \times 100$$ 
Step 3: Do the same thing with oxygen, but instead of multiplying the top mass by 1, you multiply it by 2 because there are two oxygen atoms in the molecule. 
*Honestly, you can skip step 2 and just do step 3 since that is all your question is asking. However, your percentages from step 2 and step 3 should equal 100. 
Hope it helps!

hlilly2413 · Answer

Oops I lied, you can skip step 3 since you are looking for carbon, but if you calculate it- both percentages should equal 100.

hlilly2413 · Answer

Also, your units are g/mol except for the final result which is of course a percentage.