What is the percentage of sulphur in sulphur (IV) oxide?
Answer Details
Sulfur (IV) oxide, also known as sulfur dioxide (SO2), is composed of one sulfur atom and two oxygen atoms. To determine the percentage of sulfur in sulfur (IV) oxide, we need to calculate the molar mass of the compound and then determine the molar mass of the sulfur atom.
The molar mass of SO2 can be calculated by adding the atomic masses of sulfur and two oxygen atoms:
Sulfur: 32.07 g/mol
Oxygen: 2 x 16.00 g/mol = 32.00 g/mol
Molar mass of SO2 = 32.07 g/mol + 32.00 g/mol = 64.07 g/mol
The molar mass of sulfur is 32.07 g/mol, which means that sulfur makes up 32.07 g of the total molar mass of 64.07 g/mol.
To determine the percentage of sulfur in SO2, we can use the following formula:
percentage of sulfur = (mass of sulfur / total mass of compound) x 100%
Substituting the values we obtained:
percentage of sulfur = (32.07 g/mol / 64.07 g/mol) x 100%
percentage of sulfur = 50%
Therefore, the answer is option D, which is 50%.