General

Chemistry 1 11
General Chemistry 1 – Grade 11
Quarter 1 – Module 11: Empirical Formula from
Percent Composition
 EXPECTATIONS

This module is developed and designed for Senior High School Science,
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) students. This module tackles
the topics about empirical formula.
After going through this module, you are expected to:

1. explain the concepts behind the empirical formula;

2. calculate the empirical formula from the percent composition of a
compound.; and
3. appreciate the essence of knowing the percent composition of compounds
present in products.

L E S S ON

Try to recall those days wherein you keep on discussing the topic of lowest
term of a fraction in your class. Have you ever wonder why there is a need to
reduce a certain fraction into its lowest term? One of the reason why there is a need
to do this is to lessen the burden in calculations specially if you are dealing with

large number. Imagine multplying and rather than and . The effort on
multiplying the same fraction is lessen once they are reduced to lowest terms. But
for this module, it presents something that is somehow the same concept of lowest
term but often use in chemistry which is known as empirical formula.

Empirical formula is a type of formula that gives us the relative numbers of

atoms of each element of a particular compound. It shows us the simplest ratio of
one atom to another in the compound. To further understand this definition, let us
cite some examples

Example 1: Does the term “agua oxineda” sounds familiar? This is also
known as hydrogen peroxide that is usually used as an antiseptic and also as a
bleaching agent for textile and hair. Its molecular formula is H2O2. This formula
tells us that a hydrogen peroxide molecule is consists of two hydrogen atoms and
two oxygen atoms. If we would determine the ratio of hydrogen to oxygen atoms in
this molecule, we have 2:2 or 1:1 in its lowest term. Therefore the empirical formula
of hydrogen peroxide is HO.
 Example 2. Glucose, has a molecular formula of C 6H12O6, which tells us that
a molecule of glucose consists of 6 carbon atoms, 12 hydrogen atoms, and 6 oxygen
atoms. But if we get the lowest terms of the subscripts of each element, we will have
the ratio of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen which is 1:2:1. Therefore the empirical
formula of glucose is CH2O.

When a chemist or scientist discovers a new compound either in nature or

by accidentally synthesizing it, the first move is to determine the mass percentage
composition of the compound. The next step is to determine the empirical formula
of the compound using the information given by mass percentage. But how can we
determine the empirical formula of a compound with the use of mas percent
composition?

Determining the Empirical Formula from Percent Composition

Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is known to cure scurvy which is responsible to the

numerous deaths of soldiers during the American Civil War. If it contains 40.92%
C,
4.58% H, and 54.50% O by mass. What is the empirical formula of ascorbic acid?

Strategy:
(a) Keep this in your mind that in a chemical formula, the subscripts tell us the
ratio of number of moles of each element that combine to form one mole of a
particular compound. The problem above shows us that we need to determine the
empirical formula of the ascorbic acid using the percentages of the given elements.
The question is how can we convert mass percent to moles?

(b) If we assume that we have 100-g sample of the compound, do we know the
mass of each element in the compound? How do we then convert from grams to
moles?

Solution:

(a) If we assume that we have 100 g of ascorbic acid therefore each percentage can
be directly converted to grams.
(b) In this problem, we have 40.92 g of C, 4.58 g of H, and 54.50 g of O. Since the
subscripts in a formula represent a mole ratio, we need to convert the grams of
each element to moles. We need the molar mass of each element as conversion
factor
 AC T IVIT IE S
Activity 1.
Directions: Complete the table below by giving the empirical for each given
compound:
Compound Empirical formula
C4H8
C2H6O2
WO2
N4O10
C8H18
C6H6
Te4I16
Activity 2.
Directions: Determine the empirical formula given the percentage composition by
mass of each compound.
Compound % Composition (by mass) Empirical
Formula
Chemical Y 71.2% Se, 28.8% O
Glucose 40.00% C, 6.71% H, 53.29% O
Chemical Z 62.2% Se, 37.8% O
Acetic Acid 40.00% C, 6.71% H, 53.29% O
Chemical W 18.7% Li, 16.3% C, 65% O
Chemical X 92.26 % C, 7.74% H
Benzamide 69.40% C,5.825% H,13.21% O,11.57% N
Rubbing alcohol 60.0% C, 13.4% H, 26.6% O

POS T T E S T

Choose the letter of the best answer. Write the chosen letter on a separate sheet of
paper.
1. Which of the following is the empirical formula of this compound (C 6H14)?
A. CH2 B. CH3
C. CH D. C 3H7

2. A. 100g sample of a compound is composed of 16.3 g of carbon, 32.1 g of

chlorine, and 51.6 of fluorine. The empirical formula of the compound is
A. CClF B. CClF 3
C. C2Cl2F4 D. C2Cl2F6
3. This formula shows the simplest whole-number ratio of the atoms in a
compound is
A. Ideal Formula B. Molecular Formula
C. Empirical Formula D. Structural Formula

4. What is the empirical formula for a compound that is 36.1% Ca and 63.9% Cl?
A. CaCl B. Ca2Cl
C. CaCl2 D. Ca2Cl3

5. In a chemical formula, the subscripts in every element present in a

compound indicate
A. the formula mass of the compound
B. the number of atoms or ions of each type
C. charges of the elements or ions
D. number of protons in each element