Empirical Formula | How to Determine Empirical Formula
Definition: A formula which indicates the simplest whole number ratio of atoms of different elements present in a compound is called an empirical formula. How to Determine Empirical Formula: 1: First, calculate the percentage of each element present in a compound. 2: Divide the percentage of each element by its atomic mass to get the number of moles of each element. 3: Divide number of moles of each element by least value to get simple whole number ratio of atoms. 4: If atomic ratios are in fractions, multiply these by a suitable number to get simple whole number ratio. 5: Write atomic ratios of elements below their symbols to get the empirical formula. To understand let's take an example Example: Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) contains 40.92 % carbon, 4.58% hydrogen and 54.5 % of oxygen by mass. Now we calculate or determine the empirical formula from the above data. mass of C = 40.92% mass of H = 4.58% mass of O = 54.